Our Grandma Sue – Obituary/Remembrance

I know many others would have several great things to say, but this will be written from my perspective specifically and I hope you enjoy it. Virgina Sue Strnad. Or as I call her, “Grandma Sue.” A true giving woman from what I knew her to be. Over time, she let me in a little bit on what her earlier years looked like. Very independent into her teenage years. Taking the bus to work, home after school and independent because of parent work schedules. I never really got to know too much about her early childhood or what life looked like as a teenager. I do know that she met my Grandpa jack when she was right around the age of 18. I believe he was closer to 30 at the time. She thought so highly of him. So loyal. So In love. She even made it clear that as their relationship progressed, there was a bit of alcoholism on jack’s end that soon came to a halt. He loved her so much and wanted a future family with her, that he was willing to do that to stay loyal and clear minded for His and Sue’s relationship. Grandma sue always had such nice things to say about people. I spent so many nights laying on the couch and walking game shows with her. Sleeping over there. Completely feeling calm and at home when spending time in her presence. Always giving me the updates on her cats. One at her left arm rest. One at her right arm rest. And one behind her head at the chair she loved to sit in by the TV. i remember I would stop by at the most random times with friends, and they would feel so welcome. We would be passing through Lakewood, and my buddies would always look forward to saying hi to her. They said “Grandma sue was a classic grandma.” They just loved seeing her.  Once in awhile she would come out in public to go out to eat or spend some time at the park. She was a very simple woman. She didn’t need much. She just loved the time that we were willing to share with her. I can’t remember her once asking me for anything. She always seemed so content with life with having the simplest of things. her voice was always so calm. She was a great listener. I could bring anything to her from anxious to calm, and she would help reduce my anxieties by simply having a conversation. She was good at keeping it about others. She always had so many questions to ask. She wanted to dive deeper into your life and really make you feel heard and seen. I remember when I was a kid, she would cook lots more often when Grandma jack was around. She would host some of the family events. She really liked bringing the family together. She always inspired me to keep my siblings close to me and stay loyal to what we have together. I remember she would come to family events. She would always be such a good observer. She would pick her spot at the party and she would stay there the entire time. I remember she would go, “hey Chas, can you make me a plate.” I would proceed to fix something up and she would remain in that spot she had chosen. One after another coming up to her to say hi and spend time with her. I remember how dearly she talked about her Daughters Jane and Linda and her Son Jeff. She would talk about her grandchildren Amber, Lyle, Ryan, Eve, Chas, Lance, Miles, Aris, Vayda oh so much. She would talk about her cousins and even her mother time to time. There was so much she valued from a family standpoint. She always had something good to stay about all of us. She taught really good lessons of patience. She taught really good lessons of love and calm. She was always this level headed safe place that you could go to spend time if you needed to slow life down a bit. It was always welcoming to be in her presence. It was also pretty hysterical how blunt she would be sometimes. She would see something a certain way, and just say it how it is.  It would be so honest that it was hard to hear. Even embarrassing at times. But we always ended up laughing after she would make some of these brutally honest comments. Respected her ability to just acknowledge things. She was always concerned about her family as equally. She truly from the bottom of her heart did not want anyone to suffer. I could feel it in her presence. I could see it in her eyes. She would empathize very well with someone no matter the deep pain or the high pleasure. She would give u the biggest smile and encouragement when hearing about your wins, but would also make u feel comforted and not alone when you were struggling. She was a spot on great grandmother to the family. Her intentions were so pure and she was so consistent with the unconditional love that she offered the family. Every family has some sort of disfunction, but it always seemed like Grandma sue stayed consistent from a level of support despite the struggles and challenges that anyone in our family was having. She would give you the time of day and would also give you a few bucks if you really needed help toward something. I know she helped many of us out at several different points. Anything she could do to reduce the stress of what we were going through. Every time I left her place, it was a kiss on the cheek, followed by some sort of little set of words from her to me. “You’re a good boy Chas.” “You’re doing the right things Chas.” “You’re a good brother to your siblings.” “Be nice to your cats. They love you.” The list goes on. So many simple reassuring affirmations that made you feel complete when you said goodbye to her. She left you with a feeling. In this world of flashy, technology and everything else, she could so simply give you love and some encouragement with a smile and that would go so far. We could all be al little bit more like Grandma Sue. Active listening. Pausing and focusing on calm. Simply smiling for the simplest of things in our lives. Loving our pets that we have at home. Making sure the closer ones in our lives are doing okay. She was a good person. It shows even after shes gone. She left me with a feeling. One that im reminded of randomly as I go about my life. The feeling is sort of a “don’t let Grandma Sue’s efforts and lessons she taught go unnoticed.” Keep giving the world a little bit of what Grandma sue gave to the world. That is within me as well as all of us in the Strnad Family. She wants us to be better and wants us to do good. We owe that to her. Grandma sue passed in the most recent on the same exact day that her husband Jack passed away years ago. I hope for for this to be some closure for the familiy. To realize this coincidence is something far past what this physical world could offer. Theres a higher power and something spiritual behind what happened. She wasn’t alone when she left this world. That is all I know. Let this letter be a little bit of closure to a little bit of what Grandma sue did for us.  We owe the impact on our future legacy. We owe the impact with our unique purposes to make this world a better place. Grandma sue is in each of us and thats what makes every day special. We’re here not onliy because she created this legacy, but also because we took the opportunity and made our lives better. Continued to build. Grandma sue wants us to keep our tribe strong. She wants us to look out for eachother. She wants us to come back to simplicity when life moves a little too fast. Sometimes you just need a little bit of your pets and a feel good tv show. She is here. everyday. With each of us.