My Nana June I miss you so much already words cannot express. I guess that’s why it has taken me so long to write this down. I guess I had somehow made it up in my mind that you would always be with us and be “okay” because that’s what you always told me. Living so far away I often worried about you, I often worried about your health but then I hear your voice and unforgettable laugh and I figured I was worried about nothing. I can still hear you clear as day telling me “Don’t worry about me, I’ll be alright”. So I didn’t and felt assured that you were going to be alright. It wasn’t until my mom told me the doctors had said you wouldn’t be with us much longer that I realized it and tried to rush to your bedside with hopes of hearing you reassure me again. But that never happened… I found out you were gone en route to come be with you, to just get the chance to sit with you one last time, to tell you how much I loved you and also show you our new baby. After hearing the news that you were gone I felt as if the trip was destroyed and my only purpose for going was now gone but then I walked into my mother’s house I could still feel your presence and it brought me so much comfort. I know you knew we were there and had come just for you, I could hear you teasing me for thinking we could drive out of Texas and get to you any faster than God needed you, but we sure did try. In the end the same trip that I felt was destroyed brought me so much peace learning how my mom, sister and medical staff cared for you in your last days you were so loved. Also learning that you were in so much pain and no longer able to speak allowed me to accept for certain you are in a better place with no more pain or suffering. Seeing you one last time with my sisters brought me closure and also let us share all the good times we had with you and how much you will be missed. I know you fit right in up there in heaven, with streets paved of gold and a pair of fabulous wings (sounds so you) and I know if God would give you a phone up there I’m sure we all would hear all about it! I’m going to miss you more than I could ever have told you, but knowing you are with the Lord I finally know you are more than just “alright”.

I love you forever Nana.

Love Cia.

Kids are so materialistic nowadays, I don't think they'll be able to appreciate this story. Which makes me appreciate the fact that my Nana did it even more. Whenever I turned a year older, I could always count on my Nana sending me a dollar for every year. I would get so excited checking for my card on my 10th birthday and $10 would fall out! Each year I would feel like I accomplished so much because I got one more dollar than I did the last. ... I believed it stopped around my 18th birthday, but to think... this year, I would have received $25 from her! 
I love that memory of my Nana. And I'm going to do that with my Grandchildren.


I remember the summer after my 9th grade year in High School. My Nana came to Vegas for vacation. You think my mom (Doreen) likes to shop??? Oh, then you've never met June Pace! She was a DIVA!! I believe my Nana could've probably shopped 'til she dropped! I had so much fun that summer! Me, her, and my mom went to malls and my Nana helped me pick out all kinds of stuff! She also introduced me to something that is better than leaving your house - CATALOG SHOPPING!!! She loved her some Spiegel Magazine. And I actually haven't been on Spiegel in quite some time... I think I'm going to get on Spiegel's website here in a minute! :)


Last, when I realized my Nana was sick. I was a Freshman in college. My mom had left the house and told me to look after my Nana June. I was at the dining room table doing my homework... periodically checking on her in the other room. She had a walker to help her around the house because she was having a harder time walking. But I don't think she liked that walker too much. She came out of the room without her walker and fell down immediately. She did NOT want my help up. She just wanted to show me that she could do it. Throughout my Grandmother's sickness.. I think that was her determination - that she could do it. And although she's gone, she has proved that point to me. My Nana was a STRONG woman. I pray that she looks down on me and sees that I only hope to be as strong as she was. I KNOW you are at peace, Nana June. I love you, I miss you, and I will see you again. XOXOX - Chaena

A few days after Christmas day in 2012, I received a call that would forever change my life. It was then I was told that my mom, June Pace would require 24 hour care and suprivision. We had tried so very hard to find "something" to slow the Parkinson's Disease and Dementia she had been diagnoised with years earlier down.

I tried to prepare myself in advance for "that" call, but it never came with ease. My mom was such a fighter for personal independence, so it was not easy to convince her that she needed to come to my home for my supervision and HOSPICE care.

When my mom arrived at my home, she easily embraced the thought of coming to my home to relax in a room (upstairs). Afterall, it was always prepared for her when she came to visit. However, when we greeted the hospice nurse, she stated my mom could not go (upstairs) and had to remain downstairs. It was then, my mom would prove to everyone, she was not ill. In fact, one day she walked upstairs and knocked on my bedroom door. When I opened the door and saw her, (with fright) I told her "MAMA, you can never come upstairs-you may fall and hurt yourself".

My mom was a fighter, someone that wouldn't take NO easy. So, whether you knew my mom as June, Nana June, Jazzy June, Ms. June, June Esther or Ms. Frowner, Smith or Pace...on March 8, 2013 at 1:10 p.m., while I was giving her the last dose of morphine...God allowed her to "GO UPSTAIRS".                              

She will be forever missed-but we shall meet again upstairs!