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's inappropriate sense of humor, Grandma joined with him often at Grandpa's expense.  She loved her Pablo, but she always reminded him that he needed to smell good and not to get to fat!

My brother recalls that she always made sure we washed our hands after using the bathroom.  To do this, she would take both our hands, hold them to her nose and smell them to make sure we used soap.  Whether we did or not didn't matter; to her they always smelled caca.

As kids we also spent a lot of time at McDonalds.  Happy meals and ice cream were the norm.  At one location was a bench with a Ronald McDonald statue.  She would have my sister sit on its lap and say the statue was her boyfriend.  She always had a lot to say about our boyfriends and girlfriends.

My little brother is now 25 years old, but to this day Grandma would always ask, "How's the baby?"  She wasn't talking about our babies.  She was talking about my little brother.

Through all of this, Grandma spoke as if she were singing.  She was always bright and cheerful.  Simple things would make her happy.  We would go to the Mexican store and get Mexican bread.  During sleepovers when I was young I would sleep between her and Grandpa.  Using a big flashlight, we would make shadows on the ceiling with our hands.  She tried desperately to teach me Spanish.  I was not a very willing student.

Grandma Elia absolutely adored my Grandpa.  You could see it in the way she looked at him.  He was her best friend and she was his.  They were soulmates.  We would go for walks in Grandma and Grandpa Soderstrom's neighborhood, or picnics in the park, and they always held hands.  She teased him incessantly, but out of genuine love.

Looking back, I am also able to see the great impact Grandma had on my spiritual growth.  She went with us to temple square at Christmas.  I stood at the feet of the Christus with her as she told me of her love for Jesus.  We sat on the lawn at temple square at conference time.  Grandma and Grandpa were ward librarians for awhile, and I was with them and Grandma would give me pictures to color.  She bought me my first Book of Mormon Reader.  I still have it, and now my little girls read from it.  She also gave me her copy of The Gospel Kingdom by President John Taylor.  It has her name in it in purple.  She was helping prepare me in spiritual ways  didn't realize then.  She brought Grandpa to church with her even when he didn't want to go.  Ultimately, in January 2010, Grandma and Grandpa were sealed for time and all eternity.  They were sealed in the same temple where I married my wife.  I had the blessing of standing in for her son Gonzalo at the altar, and seeing the pure joy in her eyes.

I am so grateful to her.  I daresay it would be appropriate to call her an elect lady.  She walked the path to the tree of life and brought others with her, all the while carrying her tender heart and her sweet spirit.  How I love my Grandma Elia.

A Temporary Parting

A sudden sound of silence,

Where laughter once filled the air,

A mortal life now ended,

Now death wants all to despair.

Surely she was pure in heart,

Striving with wisdom and smiles,

To meet the challenge of earth,

With no bitterness or guile.

She walked where the Savior walked,

With charity for all men,

Upon the strait and narrow,

She endured unto the end.

The promise from the heavens,

From a just and righteous God,

Is that love stands forever,

As we hold onto the rod.

The veil of eternity,

Has been parted for her now,

Her body brought to its rest,

As fall of man does allow.

But hope shines ever brightly!

She has fully been redeemed!

Christ has broke the bands of death,

Though life passes as a dream.

Every loss shall be restored,

Every tear will yet be dried,

There will come a future day,

Where she will stand at our side!

This temporary parting,

Will bring grief and even pain,

The Savior has a plan though,

That will bring eternal gain.

For faith, hope, and charity,

Doing good for one and all,

Is the life that Elia lived,

She ever heeded Christ's call.

Resurrection morn will com,

Eternal promises kept,

Joy and laughter will return,

Where for now we only wept.

Joshua D. Cooke

January 31, 2017