I recently received my grandsons (Garrett)
school essay requirement. It is likely a read only for you, however for the many
that knew "Margaret, Maggie, Mimi," and if you have the room you may pass it on.
It has been a year since Margaret left us, but in reading Garrett's essay it
brought tears to even my eyes.
Regards to all-see
you in Palm Springs next week or in Savannah, next
August.
Gene Frice, F
Company
Period
3
March 21, 2005
600 word essay/A Page
My Grandmother
My grandmother, Margaret
Antoinette Frice, was born December 2, 1925 in Union, Mississippi and grew up on
a plantation. Her parents were William Izzard Cole and Margaret Barrick
Frice. She attended a nursing school in Birmingham, Alabama and finished
her training at Los Angeles County Hospital, where she later worked as a
registered nurse. She married Gene Frice, my grandpa, on January 7, 1950
in Los Angles.
Her hobbies were traveling all over the world,
golfing in her back yard and on the golf course, gardening of all kinds, and
most of all caring for all children, especially if they weren’t hers. She
had three brothers and one sister. After marrying my grandpa she had five
children, my dad is the youngest. She now has thirteen grandchildren, and
seven great-grandchildren. Most everybody used to call her Mimi, short for
Margaret.
I went to her house every day, Monday through
Friday, from the age of six weeks old, because my parents both worked full
time. My mom always said Mimi was a co-parent. Then when I started
school I would go to her house every day after school got out, if they weren’t
traveling. Then I would go to a friend of my parents, about a half-mile
away.
My favorite things about Mimi are that she used to
take me traveling with her to places like Fresno, Simi Valley, and Bend,
Oregon. In Simi Valley we would always go to the Ronald Reagan
Presidential Library because my grandpa is the head of security there. We
would also always go to the Elephant Bar for lunch and to get a tiger or
elephant mug. Also, we used to play cards after school. Mimi and I
used to play either King’s Corners or Crazy Eights. I remember when I was
really little she would give me a bucket of water with some food coloring in it
and a paintbrush and let me paint the front porch.
On March 13, 2004 we got a call from my Aunt
Robin, Mimi’s daughter, saying that Mimi was not doing well and the family was
making decisions about her health care. After church we packed up the car
and left for Oregon. For lunch, we stopped by Taco Roco, while there we
got another call from Robin saying Mimi had slipped into a coma. We
finished lunch and hit the road. Just under the Oregon border in a city
called Weed, we got a speeding ticket for doing ninety miles per hour in a
seventy mile per hour zone. My mom, thinking about her friend Diana, told
us a story. Diana got a speeding ticket while racing to her Dad’s side and
because of the ticket she didn’t make it in time to see her Dad before he
died. Even though we got a ticket, we made it to Mimi’s house three days
before her passing.
During this time, we would sit on Mimi’s bed next
to her and read her scriptures, talk to her, and pray with her. When we
would talk to her someone might get a type of response from her. My mom
was sitting with her telling her that my little brother was misbehaving.
After hearing this, she reached out and put her hand on my mom’s cheek,
fulfilling my mom’s need to connect with her one last time. She also gave
my grandpa and my uncle a kiss on the cheek. After these events, we
realized that these connections were not giving her permission to leave
us. After realizing this, we made sure she knew she had permission to
go.
My dad bought an amazing candle. We went to
Linen N’ Things to pick out a candle for Mimi. My dad found the perfect
one, soft white, round, vanilla scented candle. We lit this candle in
Mimi’s room, leaving it there around the clock. My Aunt Karen got an
identical candle just in case this one went out before Mimi died. It
turned out that this candle never burned out for three days. This candle
lasted a few hours longer than Mimi did. When my Mimi died there were
eleven of us there sitting at her bedside crying in sadness, rejoicing that she
was in heaven and supporting each other. When the hearse came, my Aunt
Robin took all the kids out back to play until Mimi was taken away.
My grandmother died on March 17, 2004, in Bend,
Oregon. We had a small memorial at my Aunt’s house in Bend. Then
about two weeks later we had a bigger memorial service at my church and my home
here in San Luis Obispo. One of my cousins and his friend even made a DVD
slide show about Mimi and her whole life. My family watched this DVD on
Mimi’s anniversary last week, in celebration of her life.
Bill
Christian
Ben Received a reunion yes from Ralph Call and guest and one
from our Irish tenor Manny Camacho. Also a call from Lee Hekkala who informed me
they will have to cancel since Barney is undergoing some surgery. Barney and Lee
are part of the original organizers of the West Coast reunion. My thoughts and
prayers go with him. Bill
Christian