Kathryn Rebecca Hopper Connolly

Today, as I was putting on my makeup, something randomly made me think of my Granma's neighborhood and house. With the memory came a pang of missing her. Awhile back I mentioned that one day I would post about her since we are naming Baby Kate after her. I decided today would be a good day. 

My granma, born Kathryn Rebecca Hopper, was an only child. She grew up in Georgia in a middle class family. She often told us happy stories about her childhood which were a delight to us! Once, when running and eating a popsicle, she fell and the stick jammed her in the back of the throat. It was so traumatizing to her that she was never able to swallow pills and always crushed up her medicines later in life. This always fascinated me and was all the proof my mom needed when telling us not to run with lollipops or popsicles in our mouths!

Granma attended an all girls college in Georgia and kept all her year books. She showed these to me when I was a teenager and they were SO much fun to look through! I don't remember what she received her degree in. I will have to sit down with my Aunt Allie sometime and gather those kinds of details. 

Granma married my granpa, Raymond Connolly, in the mid 1940's. He was a good bit older than her. She has such funny stories about their courtship and engagement. Granma was famously clumsy and on one of their first dates Granpa took her for lobsters and dancing. She was attempting to crack her lobster's claw when it flew off her plate and onto the nearby dance floor! She would always laugh remembering how Granpa crawled out on the floor among swirling couples to retrieve her errant lobster! When Granpa was ready to ask his Kate to marry him he planned a cunning surprise! She was having a wrist watch or a ring (I am not sure we ever got this clear) repaired at a jeweler and it was ready to be picked up. Granpa told her he would pick it up for her and as he did so he purchased a diamond ring as well! They went on a picnic together and he told her he had her watch with him and handed her a box from the jeweler. She opened it up expecting to see her watch but saw the diamond ring instead. However, instead of catching on and being delighted she just looked confused and exclaimed, "This is not my watch!" We always laughed at/with her about her density at such a romantic moment:)

Granma and Granpa had my aunt, Eileen Louise, and of course my dad ,Michael James, by 1950 and they were their only two children. A funny fact, both Aunt Allie and Dad were born right on their due dates and to her death my granma always said, "Well, of course they were, that's when the doctor said they would come." If only it were always as easy as the doctor just having so say! 

My aunt has never married so Meg, Mike, and I were the only grandchildren on Dad's side of the family. Thus we got much attention and love! Until we moved to North Carolina we lived within 10 minutes of both Granma and Aunt Allie. One of the more amusing and lovable things about Granma was that she never learned to drive. Each week Mom would take her and us kids to Snyder's Grocery Store for our weekly shopping trip. Snyder's was a family owned and operated grocery store that Granma had been going to for years. She knew the original Mr. Snyder who was a very old and sweet man in the days we went. Snyder's was about 25 minutes from our home and so it was a big event for us to pick of granma and go down there each week. That time provided so many of the memories I have of Granma today because it was such a consistent time of seeing her. I treasure memories of riding in her cart with Meg and being piled high her her food, eating soft serve frozen yogurt with sprinkles that the store served for a time, laughing at funny products she would buy like Melba Toast. Just little things that over weeks and years added up to special memories. 

Sometimes, after getting home from the grocery, one of us would be allowed to stay and spend time with granma. This was always a treat! Every so often we would also get to pick out a cake mix and icing of our choice and return to her house to bake it with her. She was always patient with us and always looking for ways to create special memories. There were certain books we looked forward to reading at her house, special knick knacks that Granpa had brought back from India to touch, even special aprons to wear while cooking!

Our family tradition was to spend every Christmas Eve at her house with dinner and TONS of gifts. A few weeks before Christmas Meg, Mike, and I would help her decorate her tree and be filled with excitement for when we would come back and the tree would be piled with gifts! She and Aunt Allie have been SO generous to us over the years. Christmas memories at Granma's are the coziest in my memory bank. I can still still see the glow of her big lights on the tree, the glitter of her handmade paste angel tree topper, smell the fruit in my stocking, and hear the laugher of our family as we enjoyed being together. 

If you are wondering why so many of my memories are only about Granma, it's because Granpa passed away when I was 6. Most of my memories are from after he had died since I was so little before then. But, one of the things I so respect about my Granma was that she kept up such a vibrant and full life after Granpa's death. She lived in a little neighborhood called Greenbelt. It was a community built for older people and young families so it had many amenities within easy walking distance. She volunteered at the children's reading hour at the public library for years and would walk to the library each week. She was beloved by the many children she tended to over her years of doing it. She was always gracious and gentle which made children trust her. She would often take us on walks through the winding neighborhoods to the playgrounds and to the convienience store. She never let the fact she couldn't drive slow her down! She and my aunt were also always having outings and trips. They were best friends. We loved getting to spend time with them as kids! They took us to do so many special things that granma's and aunts make even more fun when they take you instead of mom and dad:)

After we moved to Charlotte in 1996 we saw her much less but trips up to MD and times she and Aunt Allie would come down here kept us very close and were times of making many more memories. We never fell out of touch. 

However, even in all this love, fun, and enjoyment, my greatest sorrow as a child was that my granma was not a Christian. I knew this meant that if she died and hadn't given her life to the Lord I wouldn't ever be with her again in Heaven. I prayed so genuinely that God would save her! Over the years, our family shared the gospel with her many times but always to the same polite and uninterested response. She didn't openly oppose God, she just believed she didn't need a Saviour in Jesus. 

Then, about 6 1/2 years ago she became sick with cancer. She needed surgery and dad traveled up to MD to be with her. The day before the surgery he was alone with her for a time and took the chance to share the gospel with her yet again. And, yet again, there was no immediate response of repentance and faith. But the next day when he went back she pulled him aside as she was being wheeled into surgery. "I did it," was all she had time to say. Dad's heart leapt knowing that she meant she had given her life to Jesus! After she had come out of surgery Dad had the chance to ask her to elaborate on what, "I did it", meant. She told him that the night before she had been laying in her hospital bed thinking about what he had said to her that day about the gospel when the Lord spoke to her and said, "Kate, what are you waiting for?" "I guess nothing Lord," and she gave her heart to Him in repentance and acknowledgement of her need of His blood! What JOY to my heart!

One year later she passed away from the same cancer. I still miss her deeply, more than I even thought I would when she died. But instead of the pain of eternal separation, there is the joy of knowing her gentle, ladylike soul is worshipping Jesus in Heaven and that she is waiting for her family to join her there!

 Many years ago I decided I wanted to name my first daughter Kathryn and call her Kate in honor of my cherished granma. In God's kindness David also liked the name and even though he didn't get to meet my Granma Kate he wants to be able to honor her. I know it's also the name the Lord has for our baby to be named. A few days after we found out we were having a girl He reminded me that when He called granma to salvation the name He used was Kate. "Kate, what are you waiting for?" I pray that, "Nothing Lord!" will be the response of our little girl's heart when one day Jesus calls her name! And, I hope that I can communicate to her how very special the lady she is named for was. 

There are so many other things I could tell you about Granma and the memories we made with her, but that would take longer than I have to write (or that you want to read!) To close, here are some pictures of her!

I love the picture below because Granma was pregnant with my Aunt Allie it it! Can  you see her little bump?
Holding my aunt and my dad! She looks so happy in pictures from this season of her life!

This was taken in her front yard on one of our trips up to MD with mom after moving to Charlotte. That's my Aunt Allie standing in back with us. I love this picture. 
I love this picture also! It shows perfectly how spunky, fun loving, and spry Granma remained until she was so sick the last year of her life. She would do anything to make her family chuckle! Doesn't she look so cute?