Wednesday, December 16, 2020
Grandma, we will love you always, and we will miss you so much. I hope your heart and spirit find the eternal peace you deserve.
I enjoyed our many, long phone calls about your loving marriage with Grandpa Krempa and your memories with raising mom and Eric. As a parent now, I appreciate these stories more than ever. I love that you always had your favorite “go to” stories (and corny, G-rated jokes!), but I always wanted to hear them...thank you for sharing them with me over the years. I also loved hearing you talk about your life-long friendships and the experiences you had, it was obvious that your family and friends were the center of your universe. I am sorry that you were never able to meet Tyler and Emma, but they will learn to know who “Grandma” Krempa was and what you meant to the Krempa/Hughes families.
My favorite memory of you (and Grandpa) is from one of my visits as a boy. It was Winter, so that meant lots of snow! (this was very exciting for a young boy from Texas) ...needless to say, I spent LOTS of time outside on that trip, making snowballs, digging in the snow, playing with Allison, building snow-forts from sticks and branches around their house, and even “skating” on frozen ice in the ditch by the road. Typical boy stuff, right? I’m sure you loved seeing me play, and you and Grandpa were always so excited when I finally came back inside to find out what little adventure I had been on...I can still hear the sound of your voices and feel the warmth of their presence. I will love those memories forever.
I cherish your countless stories about being an elementary school teacher and the lessons you learned about your students...I’d like to think, as I am sure you did, that it helped in steering me to also become a teacher. Your love for children, their education, and their well-being, was at the forefront of who you were as a person, and it is something I will always admire. It takes a very special person to be a teacher, and you were definitely very special.
It is hard to put in to words how it feels to know that you are no longer here with us, but I know you are in a better place, and I know that you are happier now that you have been reunited in heaven with Grandpa and mom. We will see you again someday too - we love you so, so much.
-Brad
