Grandma Elia
The following is the tribute I gave to my Grandma Elia at her memorial service on February 1, 2017, including the poem I wrote in her memory. I love my Grandma Elia. She will always have a special place in my heart and my memories of her are truly joyful. Grandma came into my life as a young boy. I spent a lot of time with Grandpa Paul and Grandma Elia. We had a lot of wonderful weekends together. Grandma made a choice very early in my relationship with her, and that is that she was my grandma and I was her grandson. She did that same for my brothers and sister. You would never know in any way that we were not related by blood, except she was very clearly Mexican and we were very clearly white! It was the one difference she was always sure to highlight. She encouraged me to find a nice Mexican girl who spoke Spanish. She ended up more than okay with my white blonde-haired choice too. Grandma had a quick wit and a wicked sense of humor. For all the talk of Grandpa Paul