Today my Grandmother Helen Rees passed away after having a stroke.  She had lived a beautiful and long life full of children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great grandchildren.  She had lost her husband many years ago and since then she had longed for the day that she could be together again with him on the other side.  So as much as it was a sad day to lose a beloved grandmother, it was a happy day knowing that she is reunited with her dear husband and some of her children and grandchildren that had passed away before her.  It is times like this that I find myself especially grateful for my belief in the ability for families to be sealed together through the eternities.  Without that faith I am not sure how I would cope with the loss of the ones I love. 

I loved the quote in the title of today’s blog:  “The legacy of heroes is the memory of a great name and the inheritance of a great example.”   -Benjamin Disraeli.   That describes my Grandmother perfectly.  She left me with a great maiden name of Rees, which I have, and do, try to honor by living a life of integrity.  She also left me with the inheritance of a great example.  She was a dynamo!  She had all the energy in the world and when she set her mind to something there was no stopping her.  She also loved shopping at Nordstrom’s :)…those who know me personally are starting to see that I may have inherited one or two of her traits :). 

My husband and I with my Grandmother Helen Rees

I often wonder if we don’t take seriously enough the impact that we can have on our posterity.  I still read the journals of my grandparents and great grandparents and so on and I read their stories to my husband and children.  Their stories and examples and testimonies of their faith have inspired me beyond belief.  I have a feeling that at the time they wrote those journals they had no idea of just how impactful they would be to their posterity.  They have inspired me beyond belief.  And I know they have inspired my children.  My son Dalton is serving a mission for our church in Mississippi and he had a great-great grandfather (my great grandfather) who had served a mission in that same location 100 years ago – before Dalton left on his mission we were able to find his great-great-grandfather’s journal he had kept while serving his mission. Dalton refers to that journal and the stories and lessons shared on a regular basis and they have helped him through tough times.  Again, I wonder if we realize how impactful our legacy can be to our posterity still to come…    

I hope that when the day comes that it is my time to pass on from this life that I will have left a legacy for my children and grandchildren and so on that is as amazing as the legacy that my Grandmother Rees and all my other Grandmothers and Grandfathers before have left for me.  I hope we all leave an amazing legacy for those to come… 

“Carve your name on hearts, not tombstones. A legacy is etched into the minds of others and the stories they share about you.”    – Shannon L. Alder

Today’s blog is written in memory of Grandma Rees.  We love you always and forever, and we are so happy that you and Grandpa are back together again!

Grandpa Stanley Rees and Grandma Helen Rees – together again.

~Amy