There is a glorious reunion going on in Heaven

A grandmother holds
her grandchildren's hands
for a while...
Their hearts forever

Connie 'Rae' Cheney Dunsmoor was born April 2, 1934 and passed from this earth on May 16, 2010. She was married when she was 17 to my Grandpa Dunsmoor and was married for 17 years before he passed in 1968. She was alone for another 17 years before she married again to Ken Bell. They were married for 15 years (messed up her pattern of 17:) before he passed away. She then married her last husband Duane in 2001 and he just passed in January. She has had such a hard life. When my Grandpa died, he left her with five children to raise by herself. She was only 34 years old when she was widowed. I've always known that but it really hit me hard now that I have just turned 34 in April. I cannot even imagine how my Grandma did it! My Grandpa was only 42 years old when he died and it has been 42 years since he passed....(there goes those number patterns again:) I guess it was definitely her time and there truly is a glorious reunion going on in Heaven. She has been an amazing Grandma and we will miss her dearly!!

I had to do a talk at her funeral about all of her Grandchildren's memories. These are a few of mine......

When I think of my Grandma, I remember her beautiful roses that lined the front of her house to the raspberries that lined the stairs in the backyard and her popcorn apricot tree. I remember climbing the fig tree and feeding her turtles. When we were really young, we would go over to her house for Christmas and she would have different games for us to play with prizes to win which was always so fun. Thanksgiving would always have homemade place cards cut out like turkeys with all of our names on them and playing football out in front of her house. I also remember the lazy suzan type round thing her tv was on before her house was remodeled. You could turn the tv towards the living room or the kitchen and I thought that was the best thing ever! She also always had mints to share at church and every time I smell exhaust, I think of her orange el camino!!

I remember how thrilled she was when I named my first daughter Makenna "Rae" after her. She would call her her namesake over and over again and even signed her name Grandma “Rae” in the cards she sent us. It made her so happy.


But my fondest memory is my most recent one. I just gave birth to her last great grandchild born in her lifetime in April. I was planning on going over to Grandma’s house so that she could meet my son but was trying to get adjusted to having three kids. I started feeling like I really needed to get over there soon so I asked my mom when we were going to go visit Grandma. We decided to go that Friday which was May 7th. Grandma’s eyes lit up when she saw my little one and loved being able to hold him. I took some pictures of them and Aiden even smiled at her as they looked into each other’s eyes. That melted her heart and made her day. My girls played around us while we had a nice visit. I gave her a hug and kiss and told her I loved her and left her house for the last time while she was alive. The very next morning, she was taken to the hospital. I will forever be grateful for being able to introduce my son to my grandma and that she had the opportunity to hold him.

We love you and will miss you dearly Grandma Great!!