Journal

Arline Groenwoldt

Arline Groenwoldt
My Grandmother, Arline Groenwoldt

My maternal grandmother, Arline Groenwoldt, died on Thursday, April 15th. I waited to mention it here because I wanted to be sure that my family had a chance to attend her services first. And then I waited some more because I’m having such a hard time figuring out what to say. I can’t adequately capture her likeness in words, and it’s overwhelming to try to explain what she meant to me. I have a vivid memory of her voice, and I keep replaying things she said in my head, afraid that I’ll forget what she sounded like and that little piece of her will be lost to me.

We drove to Iowa for her memorial last week. She is interred in Davenport Memorial Park next to my grandfather, Julius H. Groenwoldt, who died on March 30, 1996.

From the Quad City Times:

Arline Groenwoldt

PERRY, Iowa — Arline V. Groenwoldt, 86, of Perry, Iowa, and a Davenport native, died Thursday, April 15, 2010, at Mercy Hospital in Des Moines, Iowa. A year after her husband Julius’ death in 1996, she moved from Davenport to Perry to be near family. Memorial services will be held at 1 p.m. Tuesday at the Runge Mortuary in Davenport. She will be buried next to Julius in Memorial Park Cemetery.

She is survived by her son, Jim Groenwoldt (Debbie), of Indianapolis, Ind.; and daughters Pat Mineart, of Noblesville, Ind.; Judy Barden, of Des Moines, and Nancy Wright (Dave), of Perry; 14 grandchildren; 10 great-grandchildren; and one brother, Richard Koos (Beverly), of Davenport.

Grandma Groenwoldt’s love of reading is a legacy she passed to my mother and her siblings, and then to me and my siblings. She and my grandfather also loved flowers and their garden was full of gorgeous blooms – one of my most vivid memories from childhood.

Some flowers from our garden, for my grandmother.

Garden Blooms
Garden Blooms
Garden Blooms

Continue ReadingArline Groenwoldt

links for 2010-04-16

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Our friend Judy’s Obituary

Our friend from knitting class, Judy Morris, died on April 2nd after a long battle with cancer. She was a warm, sweet, funny person and a very talented knitter.

Judy from our Knitting Class

Here Judy is modeling a sweater she just finished, along with a Santa she made in a photo I took in December.

Her Obituary from the Indianapolis Star:

Judith Ann Morris 53, Speedway, passed away on Friday, April 2, 2010 after a long courageous battle against cancer. A graduate of Speedway High School, she attended Butler University and St. Mary of the Woods. She was a self-employed bookkeeper and tax preparer. She cherished time spent with family and friends, especially in Alabama and Florida. She loved pets, knitting, music, and motor sports, especially the Indy 500 which she attended 38 times. She was preceded in death by her parents, James H. and Helen M. (Huber) Morris. She is survived by her sister, Kathy Morris, of Naples Florida; a brother, David (Joy) Morris, of Mobile, Alabama; nieces, Hannah, Monica, and Jessica; aunts, Marjorie Morris, and Rosemary Huber; uncle, Kenneth Huber; several cousins; and her cherished cat, Mr. Danny-Doodle. Memorials can be made in Judy’s memory to the Embrace Program at Wishard Hospital, or the Abbie Hunt Bryce Home of Indianapolis. A memorial mass will be held at a later date. “Do not grieve for me, but live every day to the fullest and cherish one another.”

Continue ReadingOur friend Judy’s Obituary

links for 2010-04-10

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Home Again

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  • Post category:HealthTravel

So I got home from SxSW late on Tuesday. I didn’t recap the last couple of days of the event because I was catching up on sleep and fighting what I had thought was a wicked case of allergies. Turns out – walking pneumonia. (Also turns out that I managed to spell that word correctly the first time, which given the state of my woozy, drugged-up head right now, impresses the hell out of me, at least.) Yeah. I spent yesterday zoning out and finally got to the doctor late in the day when she delivered the bad news. So I’m forbidden to return to work for a couple days, and I’m on some wicked strong antibiotics and Mucinex.

I feel like poo.

And I feel like quite a douche, because I insisted to everyone that I wasn’t sick, that it was just allergies and I was really not contagious. I swear I thought that was the case; it really did feel just like when my allergies are out of control – runny nose, stuffed up head, sore throat. I didn’t have any other cold symptoms, and I didn’t feel bad enough to seek out a doctor (until Tuesday, when we were already flying home) and also felt like I had a responsibility to learn as much as I could while I was there. I’ve felt much worse at other times in the past, so this severe diagnosis makes me wonder. The thing that really sealed the deal was the two plane rides home though, where my ears popped and I couldn’t hear a thing, and my sinuses felt like they were going to jump out of my face from the air pressure changes. My left ear is still not right.

I so wanted this trip to Austin to go well.

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SXSW 2010 Prep

I’m taking off on Friday for SXSW in Austin, Texas. I’ve been there a couple times in the past in 2007 and 2008. I’m having a bit of anxiety about the trip after the doozy of a time we had in 2008 (stuck on a plane on the tarmac for 6 hours in Dallas, then driving from Dallas to Austin) so I’m kinda keyed up. The weather forecast is much better this year, but then again, it was fine last time, too. 🙂

But I’m trying to stay optimistic about the trip; it couldn’t possibly go as bad as last time, right? I’m hoping to learn a lot and see a bunch of cool new stuff. I need to do a bunch more prep work; this time I’ll have a much better camera with me, and Austin is a really cool city.

Continue ReadingSXSW 2010 Prep