Grandma Aikin Remembered

My Grandma Aikin passed away last Tuesday from a stroke...

It came as quite a surprise to everyone as she had been healthy with the exception of suffering from Alzheimers.

It's all the little things that make up my memories with her...

I was her first grandchild...

She was a bath person like me! (until the last several years when it was hard for her to get in and out of the tub). She always had great smelling Calgon bath foam. I always felt like I was in the lap of luxury when I was at her house. The smell of Irish Spring always reminds me of her, too...

(look at this bubble bath set up! I've been hooked ever since!)

She was an upbeat, cheerful soul who never let things get her down. She had a smile that could light up a room. She didn't like to engage in heavy subjects...

She love love LOVED the beach. She always looked like she had been kissed by the sun...She was a master shell finder...

The smell of freshly steamed swiss chard and beet greens reminds me of her...

(specifically during the time that my grandparents lived in their house in Fredonia, NY and at their cottage on Lake Erie)

I've never known anyone who loved carrots and celery as much as she did. She always kept carrot and celery slices in one of these tupperware crispers...

Her summer meals always consisted of fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, corn on the cob and carrots/celery...

She was a major chocoholic!

She loved Frank Sinatra!

Johnny Jump ups always remind me of her. They have simple, cheerful spirits. She used to always have johnny jumpups and pansies in a little container ready for me when my mom and I would stay with my grandparents at their house in Fredonia, NY in the summer.



She was the most unorganized corn eater ever! She had no system! It used to drive my grandpa nuts that she would just "go at it" when he was so meticulous about how neatly he ate each row.




She loved accessories! She had a matching watch for every outfit (even though they were just cheap watches, she always looked so put together). She was a shoe nut as well.

(here I am with my grandma wearing a few of her accessories...

She hated cats! (It was because of this that I often wondered how we could be related)...
It was funny how they always seemed to be drawn to her.





The smell of pickling cucumbers, onions, garlic and peppers always reminds me of her...

Bread and butter pickles were her specialty. I won a blue ribbon on her recipe last year at our local grange fair...

This was the last picture she and I took together. It was taken when I was visiting my mom in Butler, Pa in August.

In addition to countless years of volunteering at her local hospital's gift shop, she was a friend to everyone. She was completely uninhibited about talking to anyone (including herself at times).

She loved playing bridge, tennis, golf and was an avid whistler...

She was a devoted wife to my grandfather. I remember her always spoiling him with a coctail and port wine cheese and triskets before dinner. She loved to travel! She had beautiful fingernails and always used to get me to stop biting my nails by promising to polish them the next time she came for a visit.

Her lasting legacy is her posterity...In addition to two wonderful sons, she had my mother...who has been a beacon of service and kindness to more lives than she'll ever know...

Grandma's laughter and cheerful nature will always be remembered and cherished...