Grasp Things Firmly

A crash of something being dropped is heard…

… a synonym for excrement comes wafting from my mother in the kitchen

… followed closely by my father’s booming voice from his upstairs office saying… “grasp things firmly!”

A constant in mom’s life was dropping things.

Even in recent years the over/under was 3 or 4 as to how many items would hit the floor as she unloaded the dishwasher.

While mom made a habit of not grasping things firmly, they were just “things.”  

Glenda did however have a firm grasp on what really mattered throughout her life.

Embracing Family and Friends, driving Faith through this Church, volunteering her time, contributing to those less fortunate and reveling in her independence, good health and love of life at age 82.

Mom’s grasp on life was self evident as in the end she traveled and sang in Germany with her church family.  

Glenda had so much that truly mattered in her clutches that it's no wonder she kept dropping the little material things.

I thank you mom for being the clutz you were and showing us what is really important in life.  And we the family thank everyone for honoring Glenda with your friendship, thoughts, prayers and well wishes.  It is obvious that she will remain a sage after death for all of us.  

Be Well.

                                                                                       -- Mickey Moore

I took Mom to the airport on Tuesday the 13th.  She was so excited to get underway.  She'd been pacing since the early hours of the dawn.  The night before she told me she didn;t think she could be part of the choir much longer because of her faltering voice.  "But", she said, "I do love it so...." 

Glenda was an incredible sports fan of the Rockies, Avalanche and Broncos.  So much so that she never missed watching a single game, live or recorded, and could name all players, coaches and network announcers of every team!  But while she had been to a number of Bronco’s and Rockies games, she had never attended an Avalanche hockey game.

I decided that taking Mom to an Avalanche hockey game was going to be the cornerstone of her 80th birthday celebration.  I told her that her birthday party would be the weekend of her birthday and her response was that it had better not be a surprise party.  I said no but it would be a suprise event.

I contacted Kronke Entertainment (owners of the Avalanche) to see if they could do something special during the game and they were very happy to make Mom’s Avalanche game experience extraordinary.  It was on.  I then reserved a English tea party before the game and a visit to the Chihuli sculpture exhibit the following day at the Denver Botanical Gardens.  The weekend was complete.

We invited Glenda’s sister Elaine to join Glenda, Carol and myself and off we drove to Denver,  We checked into the Oxford Hotel and began the festivities with a tea party at the House of Commons English Tea Room.  A number of friends from the Denver area joined us and a lovely time was had by all.  

We left the grace and elegance of the English Tea Room and went straight to the chaos and aggression that is Avalanche Hockey.  Kronke Sports met us and said that they had something special for Glenda during the first TV intermission and that they would come and get her after about 8 minutes into the game. When they came they took Glenda, Carol and I up to the top of the first section where Mom was introduced on the big screen video and wished a happy 80th birthday in front of 17,000 fans.  Then they had Mom play pictionary with Dennis Johnston from the Avalanche.

As we walked back to our seats everyone in our section was wishing her a happy birthday.  After the game we were in the hotel bar having a night cap and complete strangers were coming up to Mom saying they saw her in the big screen during the game, how great she was and wishing her happy birthday. She was a star and I was so proud of her.  I will always remember that moment whenever seeing one of her favorite teams play.

Mickey and I moved from Dallas to Grand Junction at the end of 2016 and Glenda invited us to move in with her while we looked for a house. On Saturday, Feb 4, 2017 we woke to a beautiful Colorado day and Glenda asked if I wanted to go for a hike on the Colorado National Monument. Of course I did!

Glenda was my hiking and walking buddy. We walked about 2 miles every day that she didn't go to the gym for a class. But hiking on the Monument was a special treat. Serpents Trail is 3.7 miles with over 750 ft. in elevation gain - no easy hike, that's for sure, even for folks half her age. 

Serpents Trail was the old road from Grand Junction to Glade Park back in the day. Glenda enjoyed telling me the story of the trail, showing me the old ruts from the horse and buggy days, and generally chatting about her weaving, the family, recipes she wanted to try, her church and everything in between.

We stopped along the way for some photos together, which I posted to Facebook and will cherish forever.

Glenda lived life to the fullest up until her very last day. I loved her kindness, her joy, her generosity and her love of life. I'll never hike on the Monument again without remembering our last hike on Serpents Trail. Love you, Glenda!

I attended school with Bob and Glenda at MCHS.  Played sports with Bob and dined at his mother's restaurant many times.  Both Glenda and Elaine Dupree were great high school girls who were pretty, bright and successful.  Bob was a really good athlete and very fine person.  I would see him occasionally in Denver and I believe that he was working for CU some of the time.  Have known Lloyd Duopree for years thru the Craig Lions Club.  It is hard to believe that Bob passed away in 1993, that is a long time ago and he missed so much in life, but the years he had with Glenda were wonderful.  Would love ot hear from Elaine and Lloyd and do they still live on Yampa Ave, several blocks from our old MCHS high school.  Many fond memories of the Davis family and Craig, Co.  I now live live in Aurora and publish The Villager Newspaper that covers all of Arapahoe Co.  A large newspaper where Gerri and I started publishing after selling the Craig Daily Press in 1980.  All of our children
still live and work in the area, Patrick and Sharon work for the newspaper.  Susan a mom and Saundra now retired.   Still consider Craig our home.  Love to the family and would like to stay in contact with this great family tree.  Bob Sweeney