My Ward Grandma

With my dad being the bishop in my home ward currently, I hear about a lot of the ward news. Nothing too personal. Mostly about births, weddings and deaths, with the occasional welfare phone message that is over heard. Trust me, you don't pick those up. It doesn't matter if you're the bishop, people tell you way more than you have any desire to hear about on those calls.
The deaths are one of the harder parts. I have watched him grow close to several people through experiences as they near death. I wrote about Jack a while back. That one was hard on most of my family.
The most recent one had been the same way. I don't know how much my brother remembers her, but I do and I know my mom and sister do as well. Sister Philbrick will be missed.
My mom was Sister Philbrick's Visiting Teacher when we first lived in the ward that my parents still live in. Her husband was the bishop back then.
She was my ward grandma. Both of my grandmas live far enough away that we didn't see them as often as I would like (and still don't... I need to work on that). When my mom would go over to visit teach her, we would often be in tow. She was always so nice to us. I remember playing in her front garden when Wesley was about two. And I always remember how interested she was in what was going on in our lives.
Her death is hard because I really did love her like she was another grandma and a friend. And hard because it was cancer, and cancer is never a nice thing. I'm glad she's not suffering anymore. But I will miss seeing her when I visit the ward. It will be hard to see her husband alone.
It's been hard the last several years to see all the older members of my parents' ward get older. I miss the ones who are already gone. And it makes me realize how much older my grandparents are getting. And that I take them for granted. I don't know many kids my age who still have all four grandparents living. And yet I don't take the opportunity as much as I should to visit them or call them.