grandma peggy

this past week was my grandma peggy's funeral.  i was unable to attend, as it was in idaho. 

she didn't give me much notice, and therefore i did not plan to fly out for a funeral anytime soon! 

really!  i would have thought she could have let me know ahead of time. 

she was a funny lady so i think she would have a few good comebacks in response!

so, grandma peggy is my dad's mom.  we didn't know her super well, but well enough to have good memories with her.  i have a christmas ornament that she gave me when i was young, and everytime i pull out the ornaments to decorate the tree i am reminded of her.  it's always been one of my favorites.

i also remember a super cute pair of earrings she gave me in high school.  i still have them and think of her when i see them in my jewelry box. 

i think i get my sense of humor from her side of the family.  she is funny.  my dad is funny.  and i'm funny!

i'm pretty sure i also got my financial genius from her as well.  i think it skipped a generation, as my dad is a financial wizard.  grandma peggy and i seem to believe as long as you've got checks you can keep on spending!

i loved it when she played the piano and my grandpa don played the accordian.  they were really good!

she was petite, pretty, soft-spoken, well-dressed and gentle.

i'll be glad to see her again someday. 

June 22, 1934-May 11, 2011

Casilda “Peggy” Anne Bloomquist (Connell) went to be with her Lord on Wednesday, May 11, 2011, at St. Luke’s Magic Valley Medical Center.
Peggy was born June 22, 1934, in Burley, Idaho. She grew up on a farm in Shoshone and was a member of the Shoshone High School class of 1952.
She is survived by her husband, Don Bloomquist of Twin Falls, Idaho; sons, Kevin (Anne) Guthrie of Twin Falls, Mike (Jenita) Guthrie of Dallas, Texas, Rick Faught of Twin Falls and Don (Jennifer) Bloomquist Jr. of Nashville, Tenn.; daughters, Debbie (Jim) Brunel of Caldwell, Idaho, and Teresa (Mark) Christ of Buhl, Idaho; 12 grandchildren; 10 great-grandchildren; sisters, Barbara Crockett of West Grove, Pa., and Lois Samac of Twin Falls; and sister-in-law, Nancy Connell of Shoshone, Idaho. She was preceded in death by her parents, Sanford and Dorothy Connell; and a brother, Gordon Connell, all of Shoshone.
The funeral will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday, May 18, at Clover Trinity Lutheran Church in Buhl, with interment to follow in the Clover Trinity Lutheran Cemetery. Arrangements are under the direction of White Mortuary “Chapel by the Park.”
She had a love for animals and enjoyed reading. She had a passion for rescuing stray animals. She was a member of the Clover Trinity Lutheran Church.
In lieu of flowers, Peggy requested donations are made to the Twin Falls Animal Rescue or Best Friends Animal Society, 5001 Angel Canyon Road, Kanab, UT 84741.

Here's a life sketch my dad gave at the funeral...
Nearly two years ago I spoke at my father's funeral services. My mom was there watching me. An author by the name of Florida Scott-Maxwell is quoted as follows: "No matter how old a mother is, she watches her middle-aged children for signs of improvement". So mom I know you are listening, I hope you see some sign of improvement in your son!


On behalf of the family I would like to thank everyone for being here on this celebration of my mom's life. My name is Kevin Guthrie and I am Peggy's oldest son.

It has been difficult to summon the words to best describe my feelings today. Perhaps Thomas Edison said it best describing the feelings he had about his mother when he said, (quote) "My mother was the making of me. She was so true and so sure of me, I felt that I had someone to live for--someone I must not disappoint. The memory of my mother will always be a blessing to me." (End of quote) I have always felt that I must not disappoint my mom, and have tried to live my life accordingly; I think she was satisfied with how I turned out.

As my brother Mike has described, Mom kind of had a difficult life in many respects. Mike, Debby, and I were quite young when our father and mother were divorced. I chose to live with my dad and only had a few holidays, an occasional birthday visit and shorts trips to stay with mom, so I really did not know my mom all that well during my growing up years. However in the past few years mom and Don moved back to Idaho and eventually to Twin Falls. I am thankful for that move, because I became reacquainted with her again and we shared some good times together recently.

I found out a lot about my mom that I did not know. For example I found that my mother did not particularly care for bankers! I have been a banker for nearly 38 years! For the last little while I have been helping mom with her finances and found out why she did not like bankers very much. It seems when she wrote a check she thought it was the banker's responsibility to call her to put in sufficient funds when it hit the bank. I had to go over that a few times with her; she still doesn't like bankers much!

As mentioned earlier, Mom had a great love for animals. My aunt Barbara told me the other day that mom got her name "Peggy" from her dad and mom because that was the favorite milk cow the family owned at that time of her birth. I wonder why mom never told me that one.

When I was in FFA in high school I had a prized heifer that I was showing at the Lincoln County fair and I named her "Dorothy" in honor of my grandmother and mom's mother. I am sure that made grandma Connell proud! If I had known I would have named her "Peggy". My sister Debby was much more sensitive to Mom and she named her favorite mare "Peggy". Debby was mom's favorite at that time in her life! I guess I now know why my wife Anne did not want our kids in 4-H, when we were raising pigs!

My mom really loved cats! She once owned a big Siamese Tom cat named "Opie" (probably after the Opie on Mayberry RFD). She was moving from Twin Falls to Michigan and she thought that her dad and mom would love to have Opie. I was living with Grandma and Grandpa Connell at the time. Now grandma Connell did love Opie and mom thought that grandpa was an Opie fan as well, but it is now time that I break the silence on this issue since both grandma and mom are gone. I guess the cat is coming out of the bag today! Grandpa Connell hated that cat. He claimed that Opie stunk up the house. One summer evening I stopped at the house to get a drink in between loads of hay (grandma was still up at the barn milking the cows), and I found grandpa swearing up a storm and chasing poor old Opie around the house trying to spray his hind end with a can of Lysol disinfectant. He made me promise not to tell my mom and grandma how much he wished that cat was gone. I have honored grandpa Connell's request for over 47 years. I hope aunt Lois and aunt Barbara will not be disappointed in my confession today!

Mark Twain asked this question once and gave an immediate answer when he said, "What would men be without women? Scarce, sir, mighty scarce"!

I have found talking to mother in the last few years that she carried a lot of guilt with her about leaving us kids when we were younger. We have had several tender moments talking about the "what ifs" in our past. I told mom that I loved her and held no regrets for the way I was raised. I became very close to my grandparents while living with them and that has been a very positive influence on the way I grew up and the values I believe in today. In an indirect way mom provided for me very well.

One of my favorite movies was "The Bucket List". Two older men (both dying of cancer) find themselves on the top of one of the great pyramids in Egypt. Morgan Freeman tells Jack Nicholson of an ancient Egyptian belief of two questions that have to be answered in order to enter into heaven. The first being; "Have you found JOY in your life?" The second being, "Have you brought JOY to others in your life?" I think mom found joy in all of her children (Debby, Mike, Rick, Terri, and Donny and I). I know that she found Joy in her 12 grandchildren and 10 great grandchildren. She found JOY in my wife Anne. She was always amazed that I was able to convince a Buhl girl to even date a kid from Shoshone, let alone that she was a homecoming queen and cheerleader. Mom loved my good wife! She thought I married up!

Did she bring JOY to others? I imagine there are many that she did bring some JOY to. But she brought me JOY by just being my mother.

Mom was 76 years old, I am 60. You do the math. When I think of the circumstances that mom dealt with in late 1950 I am so thankful for her sacrifices on my behalf. Today in our world we don't think twice about a teenager being pregnant, but in 1950 it was almost a scandal. Being pregnant as a 16 year old teenager must have brought a tremendous amount of anxiety to my mom. I am sure she must have been embarrassed and I bet her parents were upset with her. But it was not all her fault, and if any of you knew my dad you would better understand that statement. Margaret Mead said it best, "Mothers are a biological necessity; fathers are a social invention".

She did not give up on me. I was born a couple of months premature and stayed in the hospital for a while in an incubator. My 16 year old mother brought me home to a one bedroom house located at the end of a two mile dirt road in north Shoshone, about 15 miles from town (and there wasn't much more in Shoshone in the summer of 1951 than there is today). She had no car of her own. The house had no bathroom, only an outdoor out house. No central air conditioning, only a stove in the living room to provide heat. She did not have a dishwasher, or a modern washing machine for clothes, she hung out all of those cloth diapers on a outside clothesline. She interrupted her education to take care of me. She was forced into the world of an adult woman at a very early age. I cannot thank my mom enough for giving me life and bringing me into this world. I hope she knows that her son Kevin loves her a great deal for her sacrifices, and the Joy she brought into my life.

A week ago tonight I stood by my mom's bed in the ICU at St. Luke's Hospital in Twin, and said goodbye to her in this mortal life. My mom stood by me in many ways all of my life. I am reminded of a son nearly two thousand years ago who had a mother that stood by him as well. One of the last sentences uttered by our Savior as he hung on the cross was, "Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother". My prayer today would be to Jesus, "Behold my mother" take her home with you! Mom I will miss you a great deal.

I bear testimony of the life of our Savior Jesus Christ and through him mom and all of us can have eternal life and see each other again.