Saying Goodbye to Grandma Barnum

Nate's Grandma Barnum passed away last Friday, February 19th. The funeral was held on Wednesday in St. George. Nate and I drove down Tuesday afternoon, spent the night, and drove home Wednesday after the services and family luncheon. We opted not to take the kids with us. It was going to be such a quick trip and an especially emotional one since Nate was so close to his Grandmother.

We attended the viewing on Tuesday evening at the Metcalf Mortuary on St. George Boulevard. Grandma was laid out beautifully in her pink casket. Grandma Barnum was always a planner. She'd made all the arrangements for her passing about 12 years ago. Nate remembered when she picked out the pink casket. Pink was her favorite color.
It was difficult to see her lying there. Grandma was always so full of life and spunk.
Grandpa was sitting next to her in an armchair. We gave him hugs and held his hands and talked with him for a while. You could see in his eyes that his heart was broken.
We got to visit with several of Nate's cousins that we hadn't seen in years, some that I hadn't even met before. It was so fun to catch up with them and to feel so welcome and included.
The funeral services were held at Grandma and Grandpa's chapel. There was an hour viewing beforehand. Uncle Dean and Aunt Kat had put together lovely displays of pictures and special things of Grandma's.

Here is a picture of Grandma and Grandpa that they had on the table.

This one is of Grandma when she was 23 years old. She was so beautiful! Then in the front is their wedding picture. The rabbit on the side was a gift to Grandma from Grandpa when she had surgery. Nate told me that she would often let him hold it and play with it.

Nate was asked to give the opening prayer for Grandma's funeral services. It was such a difficult thing for him to do, but he did a beautiful job. The services were wonderful. Uncle Dean gave her life sketch, which Grandma had written herself, and David(Nate's dad) spoke as well. There were also two beautiful musical numbers.
It was neat to hear things about Grandma's life that I hadn't known before. She wrote 18 volumes of personal journals. Uncle Dean related how special those are now to him and his brothers and encouraged all of us to leave behind something for our children to read.
I knew that she had been big on family research and genealogy, but I hadn't realized how much she had accomplished in that area. She published two books during her lifetime. One on the original Dixie Pioneers and one on the Blake family. She submitted all the names of the Dixie Pioneers that are on a monument in their honor at Dixie College.
Grandma submitted over 220,000 names to LDS temples for endowment work to be done! I had no idea it was that many. What a wonderful service she did for her family members who had passed on before her and what a great example she was to all of us who remain.

Nate also served as a pall bearer. After the funeral we all traveled to the cemetery for the internment. Here is a picture of Grandma's headstone. This was also picked out by her and has been in the cemetery for years. The top line reads "Saviors on Mount Zion".

Nate and the other pall bearers waiting to carry Grandma.

Her beautiful pink casket.

After the internment, we all went back to the chapel for lunch. Grandma and Grandpa's ward had prepared lots of wonderful food for us. While we were eating, Nate's cousin Seth asked if Nate would stand in the circle while his son Hunter was ordained as a deacon in the Aaronic Priesthood. Hunter turned 12 in December. Their family lives in Phoenix, so it was really special for them to have Hunter's Great Grandpa Barnum ordain him to the priesthood. Here is a picture of Hunter and all the men who stood in the circle.
We left right after that to make the snowy drive home to Magna. Thank you to my mom and sister Sarah for taking time out of their lives to watch the kids for us. It was such an emotional and special experience to be there and to say goodbye to Grandma.

We love you Grandma Barnum! You will always be in our hearts.