On October 16th, my Grandma took her last breath on this earth. She passed away peacefully while surrounded by her family. Here are some words that I have for her that I want to share and remember:
Dear Grandma,
I know you were ready to go and that gives me peace. You were ready to leave your frail body behind and be with your heavenly Father. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t hard for us who are left behind. I especially miss you this Christmas when we normally visit you as a family. I know you loved us very much and were very proud of us. You were always interested in everything we were up to. Since I didn’t see you often I would probably share something about my last trip or my last job or my last apartment. Somehow you managed to keep track. You always offered us orange juice and an abundance of cookies. Your orange juice was better than at home because it wasn’t from concentrate. There was never a limit on how many cookies we could take! Whenever we visited you were always crafting up a storm. I remember a red hat you knit for me that I would get a lot of compliments on and I would proudly say that my Grandma made it for me! Your warm woollen socks and slippers have gotten me through many cold winter days. If we made you a special request to make something, you would take up the challenge. I still have the pillow from my first ever airplane flight to France that I took home and asked you to make a cover for it that had the French flag. Whenever I was about to leave on a trip, you would never send me off without a roll of mentos and dropjes (black licorice candy) in hand. The mentos never lasted until take-off, but the dropjes did and I would eat them slowly and enjoy offering them to friends to try. I am fond of our visits when we were younger. We would stay around longer and my favourite thing to do was find the basket of little puzzles that you kept handy. There were foam puzzle blocks, and a wood block, a pattern magnet puzzle, and a triangle peg puzzle that I would absorb myself in. Sometimes we would watch one of your movies like Babe or 1968 Love Bug. We watched them dozens of times but never got tired of them. We also played endless games of Frustration and Mexican Train and Chicken Feet. I never had the patience back then to learn how to sew or knit, but now I have the sewing machine that you gave to Aunt Jane and I really enjoy it. I also taught myself to knit last year and made my first scarf. I definitely inherited some of your creative spirit. I also enjoyed visiting you as an adult because I would converse with you and hear bits and pieces of your life story. I am going to miss you but will think fondly of the time we had on this earth together. I look forward to the day when I will see you again!
Sincerely,
Your loving granddaughter.
This is the Bible passage that Grandma left with us at her funeral. It is Psalm 130:
Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord!
O Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
to the voice of my pleas for mercy!
If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could stand?
But with you there is forgiveness,
that you may be feared.
I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
and in his word I hope;
my soul waits for the Lord
more than watchmen for the morning,
more than watchmen for the morning.
O Israel, hope in the Lord!
For with the Lord there is steadfast love,
and with him is plentiful redemption.
And he will redeem Israel
from all his iniquities.
Grandma’s obituary:
“Jannie (Jantje) Lammers, nee Wikkerink, was born June 2, 1932 in Aalten, the Netherlands, to Dela Gezina Wikkerink (nee Eppink) and Hendrik Jan Wikkerink. She was the third youngest of eight children. She was predeceased by her brothers, Gerrit and Henk and sisters Lien and Hennie. She is survived by her sisters, Jo and Ina, and brother Dick.
One June 15, 1951 she married Geert Lammers. Two weeks after their wedding the immigrated to Canada. They settled down in Beamsville where other family members resided. After the birth of their fourth child, they moved to St. Catharines. In 1967, after the birth of their fifth child, she became custodian of Trinity Church. She was the custodian there for many years. It was a job she toroughly enjoyed and gave her heart and soul to. She created an atmosphere of hospitality in her service to whoever came through the doors. When she retired the hospitality continued with her work on the banquet committee and through her love of making meals and baking for others. She shared her gifts of knitting, crocheting and card-making with untold numbers of people, even during her hospitalization.
She was blessed with fourteen grandchildren and thirty great grandchildren, the two of which she held in the last weeks of her life.
Jannie left a legacy of faith in her Lord through her service and generosity to others. She put her hope in the Lord and her prayer to be called home was answered.”
Life Section 