In Memory of my Precious Grandma,
Lyola Johannah Hopkins
27 Jan 1899 - 9 Sep 1984
My first child, Lindsay Lee Lyola
was named after my Grandmother

Fall always brought the uncertain
unwanted silence ... a very cold season.
The winds are fierce and sometimes brittle
... and now crumble of earth lies upon her grave.

Wrong season ... wrong lady ...
she was spring.
And somehow ... someway it should have been
for she always loved assorted flowers.

Her home held its forever fragant
its ever lasting beauty.
She loved them each and everyone
in her very own way.

She always held something in them
it must have been pride
for she held it till the very end.
To her the spring time meant
something new ... something fresh
she had a "Special" way about herself
something very simple.

She was granted respect from a wide range of friends
she was always known as "Grandma"
whether family or friend.
She was so easy to love ... to understand
she never pictured herself better
to many -- she was the most dearest friend.

You could say she was a natural
she so often resembled the sweetness
of her garden picked flowers.
Yes, she was like you and I she had her faults
... to me she never seemed to dwell
so much on her mistakes she encountered
she just pushed on and up with life
and tried to do better and greater things.

She always found time to take pleasure
in what life had to offer.
It was often told she was like the Rawleigh man
a gum or sweet ... always something for you and I.
Her pockets held the treasures
for our little hands.

When the end did near it hurt so much
for she never deserved the pain she received.
She was so strong
she fought through days and weeks.
Till one day an angel took mercy
and made her peace
till the pain came to cease.

I think the thing that hurts the most
was to see her in pain
since all she knew was to give and love
... and she did that so well.
She taught us value ...
she took in what was and wasn't loved
to us there was never a closed door around her.

She had so many good virtures
that the bad were so easily out weighed.
She was always so keen on laughing
even when the joke was on her.

When we knew the end was coming
it still hit us all hard.
There never seemed a time possible
to prepare life without her
preparing the loss
the pain
... hurt.

In her last struggle
we learned something very dear
and precious from her.
When the fight for life
becomes so unbearable
... don't give up.

And today she still didn't lose
that struggle for life
... she won.
For we carry her reward ...
her memory ...
her strength ...
her knowledge ...
her remarkable zest for life.

Yes, somewhere a mistake was made
when they took her in the wrong season.
She more than deserved
the innocence of spring time
the fragrant of her garden picked flowers.

She deserved to bloom in heaven
in the magic of spring.