Deceased family members, part 1

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Question: Have any of your family members died? If so, what did they die from? What do you remember of their death, and what were the circumstances of their death?

There are members of my family that have died. My mother and my father have both passed away and my cousin Jackie Skewes has passed away. I’ve also had a number of aunts and uncles and cousins and all of my grandparents that have passed away.

I will tell a little bit about each one of them starting with my Grandparents. My grandpa on my father’s side, George Alma Poulson, died when I was three years old and I don’t remember very much of him except one vague memory where I sat on his lap and that’s all I can remember of him. Of course I know a number stories about him that were told to me throughout my life but as far as remembering personally that was all I remember.

My grandmother on my father side, Rozilla Johnson Poulson, was the next one of the grandparents that passed away. She passed away when I was 10 years old. My most fond memories of her was going to her home when I was in kindergarten and first grade. I loved going over there because she always had cookies and rice pudding that I got to eat until mom came to pick me up to go home. I also had cousins that lived right next door to her so we were able to play a lot between when I got there and when mom got there. Grandma always spent Christmas at our house and it was the day after Christmas in 1963 when she passed away. She had been in our home for several weeks prior to that because of a stroke and we were taking care of her so each day when we got home we were able to go in talk to her. Mother said that she always felt that grandma didn’t pass away on Christmas Day so that she wouldn’t spoil our Christmas that year so instead she passed away the day after. It is an easy year for me to remember because in November of that year just before grandma passed away was when Pres. John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas Texas. When I went on my mission I was called to the Texas North mission which was later renamed the Texas Dallas Mission. While they’re in Dallas I got to visit the area of where the assassination took place and was reminded of that time in my life when I lost the president of the United States and my grandmother at almost the same time.

My grandfather Charles Savaren Hansen was the next grandparent that I lost. He died when I was 14 years old. I had received my patriarchal blessing from him the year before and remember him very well because of the kindness that he always showed when we went to visit them. I still remember grandpa always in his bib overalls when we would get there from Duchesne and he would be out doing the chores and come in to see us. Grandpa Hansen died because of a heart attack that he had after trying to push the car out of the snow bank when he was on his way with grandma to a wedding reception.

I knew grandma Mary Alvira Hansen the longest and she died when our oldest son Ben was almost 2 years old. My father and grandma Hansen both died within about a year of each other. Grandma passed away in April 1977 and dad passed away in February 1978. I have a picture of Dad with Ben at the Centerfield cemetery when we were at grandma Hansen’s funeral.

I’ll always remember the dark black hair that grandma had. It never did go gray until right at the very end of her life. Grandma had moved to Orem Utah a few years after grandpa died and so we got to visit with her a lot more. In fact the day that I bought the wedding ring for Marie we were out visiting with grandma. There is one funny fact that I remember about grandma Hansen, it is strange some of the things we remember, grandma once said when we were visiting in Centerfield, “you only have to use four squares of toilet paper when you go to the bathroom”. Apparently we were using way too much toilet paper and that used to seem kind of strange to me that she would say that except now that I have grandchildren and they almost plug up the toilets because of the amount of paper that they sometimes use, I can see why she did.

All of my aunts and uncles except two have now passed away and I could probably take quite a lot of time and tell you about each of them and what I remember of them and a little about them but I think I will do that later. I will need some time to be able to make sure that I know that order in which they passed away. I do remember one thing however that Alma said just after my uncle Monty passed away. He was the oldest child in dad’s family and was the last one to pass away and Alma did not want that to happened to her. I hope to make that wish of hers come true since she is around 11 years my senior.