Some fond musical memories that I had with Oma came around the holidays.  Every Christmas, she lead us in a caroling session consisting of German and Estonian Christmas songs.  She would put her own musical flare into the piano making a more common Christmas song extraordinary.  She always remained humble regarding her musical talent and her ability to transpose and recreate pieces on the piano, however, I remember one Thanksgiving she truly amazed me with this talent.  While she was helping in the kitchen with the turkey and other dinner preparations, she found the time to help my sister and myself with a hymn we were going to sing at church that was too high for our vocal ranges.  Between basting the turkey and figuring out the perfect timing for every dish in the oven, she was able to run over to the piano for us, and while sight-reading the music, she transposed the entire hymn as she was playing.  She then was able to rewrite all of the music on blank sheet music paper before checking on the turkey again.  Additionally, during that same meal prep period, she found time and energy to teach a more efficient way to play a piece I had been practicing on the piano.  In that moment, I was amazed at how easily she was able to musically complete what many would consider very difficult work, even without Thanksgiving dinner cooking on the stove. Her talent and her immediate readiness to help myself and my sister is telling of the person she was as she would always dedicate as much time as she could to her grandchildren.  I will always admire her for how she was not only a talented musician, but she also was a wonderful and caring grandmother, constantly putting her grandchildren's needs before her own.  I will always think back to her with such a smile on my face and will always feel the warmth of her love. 

One of the most admirable qualities about my grandmother was her selflessness. She never wanted to talk about herself, she only wanted to hear about how you were doing. How are your friends doing? Classes going okay? Which is your favorite one? Why?

These are some of the questions that came up during every single time we spent together. Being an athlete my entire life, Oma came to as many games as she could. In college while I was playing lacrosse for Vanderbilt, she live streamed every single game. At the end of each game when the final whistle blew, she would send me an email, recapping her favorite plays, stating why the coach shouldn’t have subbed someone out, or recounting the way I scored a goal. And of course, each game was followed by a personal phone call, to hash out the details over the phone. My grandmother supported every endeavor that I chose (as well as my entire family) within our 23 years spent together. Her incessant support was always a comfort to me, and is something that I will always be grateful for. I love you Oma

She will be remembered by many for her concerts at seaside park elementary school. Standing room only audiences appeared at each concert at spring and Christmas .

 She gave many students fond memories to carry with them and will always be remembered fondly.