Two weeks ago on our drive home from California, we found out that Grandma Wirthlin passed away. Four days later, we flew up to Utah for the funeral. My nephew was born three weeks ago on Grandma Wirthlin's birthday and he was blessed the day after the funeral. My mom put it best, "It was heaven on earth to be together with extended family and friends last weekend to celebrate Emmeline's life and Max's birth."
Some pictures from the weekend:
Kate was pretty dang naughty on the flight. It's always a treat to have Spencer fly with us though! I got to sit next to Jack while he wrestled Kate and David most of the time! #firstworldproblems
Other activities included hanging out with Grandpa Hall and cousins, Tony Burgers and pickle ball with my family, and @johnsonfiles improve show with my mom while my dad stayed home and watched our kids!
Baby Max's blessing day:
Grandma Wirthlin's funeral service was perfect. She was buried in Pleasant Grove and we all had lunch afterwards at the cute home where she was raised. (My Aunt and Uncle own the home now)
Below is my dad's talk from her funeral and A TON of pictures - she was so good at keeping journals. (I hope when I die my kids won't have any trouble finding pictures either and they will be able to pull them all from this boring old blog :)
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My Wonderful Mother – Emmeline Wirthlin
By David Wirthlin at her funeral on October 13, 2018
I am humbled to speak at Mom’s funeral. Between family members and ward members, I think I know
most of you. Thank you for coming to honor my sweet mother.
I am happy to report that Alison and I completed the purchase of mom’s home on the October 1st,
just six days before mom passed away. She had been wanting us to buy the house for the past year or so.
She loved her house, and she loved her neighbors and ward members. She really wanted us to be right here.
And we are happy to be here. It is an honor for me to now take care of mom and dad’s house that they
bought in 1962. I have so many memories of growing up on Sunnybrook Way, and so many memories of
mom and dad. As parents, they were a great combination. From dad I learned perfect obedience.
He taught me, by his example, to always be honest in all my dealings, and to be honest with the Lord
in paying tithing. From mom, I learned, by her example, perfect love and charity. I saw her always
serving others, giving everything she had to help others, always selfless. We all knew that if we gave
her flowers for her birthday, she would take those flowers and give them to a neighbor who was
having a hard day and who needed them more than mom. After Dad died, we were worried that
Mom was potentially giving flowers back to the same people who had given them to her.
I tried to think of one personal story about mom that would convey something about her. This story
is about a big long hug mom gave me, which I will never forget. When I was in 9th grade, mom got
breast cancer. I didn’t know much was going on until she learned from the Doctor, over the phone,
that it was cancer. I remember we were all standing in our kitchen, just as she heard that the tumor
was malignant. I remember she turned to me, her youngest child. With tears, she put her arms
around me and gave me a very-very long hug. As she embraced me, she said, “I love you. I don’t
know if I can do this.” I don’t know if I can do this.” In the next several months she went forward
with Faith in God, and with lots of courage, and she did it. She had priesthood blessings. She had
surgery. She had chemo and radiation treatments. And she conquered the cancer. And she stayed
with us another 43 years. I have wondered over the years why, in that moment, she turned to me,
her youngest child, and not my dad or someone else, and gave me that long embrace. I can only
imagine what she was thinking and feeling. As I have aged, had my own children, and gained some
perspective, I now believe that, in that moment, she did not know if she would live or die. She did
not know if she would be here to see me graduate from high school. And I think in that long-long hug
she was trying to give me all her love, and all her nurturing to last me a lifetime. In that moment, and
always, she made me feel loved, important to her, and she inspired me to always do my best.
Probably maybe most of us, have experienced mom’s pure love and nurturing. Since Alison and I moved
into mom’s house and into the 11th ward, many have told me how much they love mom and how they
appreciated mom’s kindness to them, especially when they or their children were having adversity in their lives.
I want to read a few quotes from friends and family.
In 2015, several friends and neighbors surprised mom with a remodel of her kitchen. They left a beautiful
note to mom that included the following, “Dear Emmeline… We recognize there are many lives you have
touched and taught through your powerful example of Christ-like living. You are a wonderful wife, mother,
grandmother, great-grandmother, neighbor, friend and disciple. Countless are the acts of kindness,
compassion, generosity, forgiveness, and friendship that you have offered people, young and old,
throughout your life…and you just keep giving! They say “what goes around, comes around” and this day
some of the love and goodwill that you have been passing around for so many years has “come around” to
say thank you and God bless you for being such a blessing in our lives… We thank the Lord this day for
sending us a blessing from above… a blessing named Emmeline Wirthlin!!
Mom’s long-time home teacher, Craig Wilson sent me an email. He wrote…
I just heard about the passing of your dear mother. My deepest condolences to one of the great mentors
of the Wilson family. For years, we've used Emmeline's example as the person we know who is closest to
the Savior when it comes to treating EVERYBODY with love and kindness. I never heard her say anything
disparaging about anybody -- only an appreciation and love for their existence. She was so loving to my
sons when we home taught her. And she loved Cari & my girls completely and made them feel like they
could do anything. I look forward to being at her funeral "celebration". I know heaven is a little better
today and your Dad is ecstatic.
Mom’s next door neighbor, Kent Jackson, recently sent me this text. “We are so happy to have you as our
neighbors…the only thing that could possibly compare to having dear Emmeline next to us. We love her
and hope she is happy with the change as well… We will always consider her a blessing in our lives.
Imagine what an amazing world this would be if it was full of Emmelines. Sounds like something akin
to heaven… I mean it!”
Annie (Instagram excerpt)
After mom passed away Sunday, my daughter, Annie, posted the following on Facebook and Instagram,
which I believe represents the experience and feelings of all her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Excerpts of what she post include:
My sweet Grandma Wirthlin passed away this evening. We love her and will miss her so much! Growing up,
I loved visiting my Grandma Wirthlin in Utah. When we stayed at her house, she always made us homemade
waffles served with canned peaches from her peach trees for breakfast. She took us on walks to visit all of her
neighbors and up to Kaysville to visit cousins. She always let us watch whatever movie we wanted from her
collection and I especially remember watching The Little Rascals on repeat! She always had her camera with
her and took pictures to put in her volumes upon volumes of journals. She never forgot my birthday
(Or Spencer’s or my kids’!) and she was consistent at sending a surprisingly large amount of cash for an
elementary school aged kid!
… I was able to see my grandma a lot more when I moved to Utah for college. Whenever I visited her, I
looked through her journals as she updated me on all of our family, all of her neighbors, and all of the
current events. She held my hand and patted my hand and said over and over, “I hope you know how
much I love you” and “I sure do love ya!” She always slipped me some cash in my hand on the way out
the door. …Because of her, I want to be more generous with my words, with my money, and with my love
and I want to teach my kids to do the same.
Mom’s health had taken a downturn over the past several weeks. All the way to the end, she was asking
about my life, and asking about my children and grandchildren, and telling me to express her love to them.
Even through her own suffering, she was loving and caring about others all the way to the end. On the day
we signed the closing documents to buy the house, Mom was barely able to physically sign the documents.
She could barely see, and she had lost her motor skills to sign her name. It was very difficult for her.
And it was kind of a shock to me. My heart was heavy, knowing she did not have much time left.
In the next week, I began looking though the many pictures and photos that mom had collected over
the years. The veil was thin. I knew I was looking at those who would shortly be greeting her on the
other side. I saw dad. He left us way too soon, leaving mom a widow for 29 years. I felt that he was very
excited to see her again. I envisioned him to be the first in line to greet her and embrace her, with a very
long hug. I saw my grandpa Alma and my grandma Cleone. Mom truly loved and honored her mom and dad.
And I saw mom’s brother Warren and her sister Katherine, and several other relatives. I know they would
be a part of that reunion.
A week ago Friday, the day before general conference, mom was very uncomfortable and suffering from pain.
Mom’s heart was failing. But she did not want to go to the hospital and did not want any more procedures.
That evening we put mom on hospice.
With mom heavy on my mind, President M. Russell Ballard gave a perfectly timed talk, Sunday morning
(the day Mom passed) about Joseph F. Smith’s Vision of the Redemption of the Dead.
Quoting from the vision (which is in Section 138 of D&C), Joseph F. Smith’s wrote,
“… As I pondered over these things … , the eyes of my understanding were opened, and the Spirit of the
Lord rested upon me, and I saw the hosts of the dead.” In the vision, Joseph F Smith saw his father, Hyrum,
and the Prophet Joseph Smith, among others.
Continuing with the revelation, President Smith wrote…
“But behold, from among the righteous, [the Savior] organized his forces and appointed messengers,
clothed with power and authority, and commissioned them to go forth and carry the light of the gospel
to them that were in darkness, even to all the spirits of men [and women]; and thus was the gospel
preached to the dead. … “These the Lord taught, and gave them power to come forth, after his resurrection
from the dead, to enter into his Father’s kingdom, there to be crowned with immortality and eternal life,
… And continue thenceforth their labor as had been promised by the Lord, and be partakers of all blessings
which were held in reserve for them that love him.”
I wept as I listened to President Ballard’s talk. I knew mom would soon be re-united with Dad, grandpa
and grandma, and many-many other friends and family. I’m grateful to know where she is now, with a
body that is completely healed. I can envision her even now, visiting anyone in need, anyone with a
heavy heart, anyone suffering for any reason, and in mom’s sincere, non-judging way, loving them,
saying a kind word, and lifting them to a higher place. I will miss her. But I will always cherish my
memories of her. Her final words to me Sunday were… “David, you are a good boy. You are a perfect son.”
Mom, thank you for seeing me that way, despite my many failings. You continue to inspire me to try
harder to love, to serve, and do whatever I can to lift and bless the lives of others. Thank you for that big
long Hug that I will remember for a lifetime.
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She always talked about how much of a tom boy she was growing up - I love this picture of her holding a hammer!
I love all of these pictures of my dad as a kid!
