Grandma Lofgreen

We went to Phoenix, AZ for Grandma Lofgreen's funeral this weekend. Grandma Lofgreen has been ill for most of the time that Aaron and I have been married. It is wonderful that she now gets to be with her husband and other family members. I got to learn quite a bit more about her and am sad that I wasn't able to know her while she was healthy.

Some of the stories that I particularly enjoyed where about a time that she drove up onto a curb. Apparently she was 4'11" and drove a station wagon. It was said that you could see two little hands on a steering wheel and a bunch of kids in the car (there were 11 in the family) and that was it. She said that when she was pregnant, she had a hard time reaching the steering wheel and the gas pedal at the same time. The image of that just made me giggle.

Here is a segment from Jana's talk at the funeral:

Mom was known for her long fervent prayers. Quoting Peggy: “While we lived in the farm house there was a skunk living underneath in the crawl space. Dad had set a trap where he thought the skunk was getting in and out. As dad was the bishop at that time he left early Sunday mornings for meetings. He gave instructions to Art to check the trap and to shoot and dispose of the skunk if it were caught. The skunk was caught. Art shot and killed the skunk. He must have hit the stink bag gland. Art quickly grabbed the trap with the dead skunk attached to the chain, ran out into the nearby field, swinging the trap and skunk above his head, flinging it as far away as he could from himself and the house. It wasn’t far enough or it was too late…it was time for morning family prayer and Mom called us all into the living room. We dutifully came, knelt down at our regular prayer spots in the living room and my mom commenced to pray. I had smelled something strange to start with but as she continued in prayer the potent fragrance increased, seemingly in waves, till it actually caused my eyes to tear and my throat to scratch. Mom continued to pray. I remember thinking, “can she not smell that?” I was Jr Sunday School secretary and thought I’d better send the rolls in the folders to the church building with a family member so they could take attendance, as we would probably be late, with the extreme bathing that was now required. The family member returned and said the members of the ward sent back the folders and told us it probably would be better if we didn’t come that morning at all. Mom went to a convenience store and bought several cans of Lysol spray. She told us that the store clerk looked at her funny so Mom explained, pointing to the cans, “We were sprayed by a skunk,” and the clerk replied, “I know.”

Grandma Lofgreen had a great love of music. I had been told this before but didn't quite grasp the enormity of her love of music. My grandfather Ben loved music and could sing very well. He gave each of his kids a piano in hopes of passing this love onto the next generation. It stopped there. I don't know of a single musically gifted person in our family (including extended, with one exception). This is not the Lofgreen family. At her funeral one granddaughter (Shelly) played the cello and Missy (a daughter) sang. It was nothing short of amazing. It might as well have been professional. I was dumbfounded. As it stands now, tone-deafness appears to be a dominate gene.

I was able to meet a ton of family on the Lofgreen side. It was nice to get a feel for more of Aaron's family. We also were able to spend time with some family from the Russell side. John loved Dave and Judy's house because they have cool trucks there. Emma loved it because you can slide down their basement stairs - too hard to explain. Emma and John also loved to play with the Deshlers. Emma and Elle were two peas in a pod. John and Dray bonded over trucks. It was very nice to sit and visit with family and to have a weekend to catch a glimpse into Aaron's childhood and what it was like for him to grow up near family.