Margaret Ruth Belnap Reese-Frazier

My wife's grandmother passed away last week. We drove the family down to Oregon over the weekend to attend her funeral service and visit with family. The weather was marvelous and made a beautiful backdrop for her burial next to her first husband, Dar.

For me, this is the third death of a close family member that I have ever experienced. Because I am very young compared to people the age of my grandparents, it is difficult to conceive of their lives in totality. I only knew a very small part of Margaret's life: six years out of nearly nine decades. It is impossible to even begin to understand who she was, and what she learned in her time. When I look at pictures of her as a girl, newly married, or with a small family, I can't help thinking that young people are so ignorant of the elderly. As a group we treat the very old with condescension, like children. We exhibit curiosity about their experiences (mostly related to historical events and technology that we find quaint), but I don't think we truly realize the extent of their wisdom, and the paucity of our own. What a loss it is when a person who has lived a full life passes away....

Continue Reading Add comment September 25th, 2006