Thursday, August 25, 2011

In Loving Memory...

I've been debating if I should write this post or not, so I decided to go ahead and do it. The reason for my absence in blogging lately is because two weeks ago, Friday, August 12, 2011, I lost my sweet Grandma. So this post is in loving memory of her, Verneda Marie Hackler. She was the best Grandma anyone could ever hope for. I never heard her raise her voice to anyone, for any reason and she always had a smile on her face. She was a wonderful cook, I remember how much I loved her turkey-a-la-king with homemade biscuits. And as good as I think she was a cook, in my eyes she was an even better baker. Her cookie jar was never empty. It was always filled with chocolate chip or molasses cookies. But cookies were not her only baked specialty, she also made the best donuts, jelly rolls and toffee bars too. I also remember her candy jar sitting right in the middle of the dining room table (which I am lucky enough to have in my house now). She filled it with all kinds of hard candies like butterscotch and peppermints, but my favorite were the hard strawberry candies with the juicy filling in the middle. Grandma also kept the downstairs refrigerator full of Shasta Pop. As a child, I was always scared to go down to the basement alone, so I would run downstairs, grab a Black Cherry Shasta and quickly run right back up. And her garden, she had a huge garden in the front of the house where she planted fruits, veggies and flowers. She did a lot of canning and made the best pickles I have ever tasted. I haven't had another that even comes close to hers. I have so many fond memories of holidays at her house, like all of us cousins crowded around the dining room table to color Easter Eggs, the Easter Egg hunts outside, Christmas in the basement and getting the LifeSaver candy book and a crisp $2 bill in a white envelope with a hand written message by Grandma on the front for Christmas. She was a Mother to 7 Children (two of which died as infants), a Grandmother to 15 Grandchildren, a Great-Grandmother to 16 Great-Grandchildren and a wonderful sister, aunt, and friend to so many.

Here is a picture I took of her back in July playing one of her favorite card games, Crazy Eights.


    In Loving Memory...
Verneda Marie Hackler
October 15, 1933-August 12, 2011


She meant so much to so many people and I am so lucky to have had her as my Grandma!
Thank you for taking the time to read this post.

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