Lessons from Grandma

Family Search's question from May 13th was: What lessons have you learned from your grandmother's life experiences?

I have three grandmothers that I am very close to. My great-grandma Virginia Hegstrom, my maternal grandma Linda Peterson, and my paternal grandma Carol Larson.

My grandma Virginia's experiences have taught me about bravery. She was a teenager when World War II broke out. She married my great-grandpa and had to say goodbye to him shortly after because he got drafted into the Army. My grandma Virginia watched her husband and several of her classmates leave home and get sent to Europe to fight. While my grandpa Elvin was over seas, he couldn't write that often to grandma Virginia. My grandma Virginia said that she just waited - like the rest of the country - for news to make it into the papers, it was always a few weeks after the actual event. Grandpa Elvin got injured in France and finished the war healing in a hospital. There, my grandparents were reunited. I can only imagine that kind of bravery and faith it took to start their marriage that way.

My grandma Linda has taught me about love. She is one of the kindest people that I know. She loves my grandpa and waited for him while he was on his mission. She loves her kids and has always put their well being first. She took a job at their local elementary school as a librarian so that she could be more involved in her children's education. The year my grandpa retired, they filled out paperwork to serve a senior couple's mission. They were called  to Salt Lake City to serve in the translation department at the Conference Center. They loved serving so much that they extended their mission past their original release date. Not long after they returned home, they requested to serve an other mission. They were called to Philadelphia, and were released home last month. While in Philadelphia they served mainly refugees from Africa. My grandma Linda  sent frequent emails to the family, and I loved reading about her experience and learning from her testimony, her love of the Savior, and her love of the people she served.

My grandma Carol has been a great example of "standing as a witness." I'm not entirely sure of the details of my grandma's family's connection to the LDS church, but I have heard her talk about family get together's where extended family members were drinking and smoking, and my grandma did  not like that. I believe my grandma was baptized as a young girl, and she did attend church and had friends at church. She married my grandpa in the temple even though her parents were unable to go inside and witness the sealing ceremony. She has always strongly bore her testimony to her children and grandchildren. She is bold in her faith in Jesus Christ, and I have always looked up to her for that.

I love my three grandma's and I'm so thankful for the examples that they have set for me.