Of course, she looked somewhat different from this picture when I met her--curly gray-white hair, horn rimmed glasses, soft wrinkles around the eyes and jawline. But she was always beautiful and fascinating to me. When I was a little girl, I loved to feel her super soft skin and the smattering of very light peach fuzz on her neck. (She didn't like it when I did that!) But it wasn't just her skin that was soft. She was soft, and harmless as a butterfly--but less gaudy. She had the quiet beauty of a star--nothing too garish. Subtle, quiet, easy to miss even, if you aren't looking. Prone to be taken for granted, probably.
Thelma Ruth Sexton (Farnsworth) joined the Church of Jesus Christ when she was a teenager. She said it "felt like coming home." That is where she had the opportunity to meet my grandfather--an affectionate man prone to talking your ear off. (Love you, Grandpa!)
Grandpa was immediately taken with her deep blue eyes. He said he had always liked blue eyes best, and hers were the bluest he'd ever seen. (She was generous enough to share her blue eyes with me. Of my 4 grandparents, she was the only one with blue eyes. She gave them to my father, and he gave them to just 2 of his 7 children--Laura and me.)
She was an efficient little lady. Grandpa always said she could clean the whole house from top to bottom by 10 am, and then set about her other business. She spent years and years of her life researching her geneology and preparing names for temple work. She also did the most difficult puzzles I've ever seen! 1,500 pieces of a black and white photo of zebras. Aaaaah! How did she have the patience? (I honestly don't know. She was not generous enough to pass on this particular trait to me...) She was sweet, modest, and unassuming, but you'd better believe she'd get the job done if it was within the realm of her percieved duty.
Grandma Farnsworth died of cancer when I was just 18 years old. We were actually en route to her house in Arizona to see her one last time when she passed. I felt awful that I didn't get to see her...didn't get to say goodbye. And I had spent the previous summer in Washington state when the rest of my siblings went down to see her. I lamented it for a long time.
When I got married, I was presented with this beautiful quilt:
This quilt is one of my favorite possessions of all time. I get it out for special company, and especially when my dad comes to visit. I figure he'd like to sleep with his mother's handiwork comforting him. And sometimes I wrap it around me just to feel close to Grandma.
I like to think about how her nimble fingers touched this quilt in every possible place. See the tiny handstitching?
Sometimes I flatter myself that she was thinking about me when she was working on it. Blue eyes AND a wonderful quilt besides? Thanks so much Grandma! I love you.
