My Grandma Dori

On Thursday, March 14, my grandma, Doris Mae Hewson Brand, passed away peacefully next to her youngest son, John. The last several days of her life she was with a family member around the clock. I'm so happy my family could do that for her and I wish I could have helped and been there too.
I think we all have grandparents or other people in our lives who we love so much, who mean so much to us and who we know so well that we wish we could describe everything about this person so that everyone else will know and understand them the way you do. So you can probably understand that there's no way I can adequately do justice to my grandmother in a few paragraphs. I don't even want to try. It won't come close to who she really was. You won't ever know the funny way she pursed her lips, how one word out of her mouth in a certain tone had years of inside-jokiness behind it, or the details of each story from her life that she proudly told over and over. But I know all of it and those are the memories that stay with me and continue to make me smile and laugh.
Not even my boys, who are a part of her legacy, will ever really know how she was, but I will do my best to share her stories and give them an idea of the unique specialness of their great-grandma and grandpa, who died about 7 years ago. I'm so lucky that I got to grow up knowing her at her best, long, long before she lost her spark and changed. Actually, I take that last part back. She changed but she never lost her spark. Even when she didn't know who or where she was, she still had her sense of humor. She was absolutely hilarious.

Always stylish and smiling

L-R:Rick, John, and Robert.  There were few things my Grandma loved to talk about more than her "THREE SONS".

Does it get any more glamorous?

She married my Grandpa, the most refined gentleman that's been a part of my life, after meeting him at a dance at the Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego. They moved around the country dozens of times for his career in the Navy. She loved that life even though she would be home alone for months at a time with three young boys while my Grandpa was flying planes and helicopters on and off of aircraft carriers. She was a brilliant artist. Her specialty was colorful jungle scenes of parrots and tigers that you swear could pounce off the canvas. Her style and personality were equally colorful. She always wore vibrant patterns, big jewelry and bright coral lipstick. ALWAYS.  When we were little my sister and I would stare, mesmerized, as she did her lipstick application ritual. First, the primary coating in one shade of coral. Blot. Then the second coating of a slightly different shade of coral. Blot. Press lips together. Then purse her lips into a heart-shape and shift her eyes to look at us looking at her.
Her home glittered with crystal, gold and fine china and was adorned with an eclectic array of items they collected from their many travels around the world. She was also a volunteer tour guide at the Salk Institute in La Jolla for 37 years (and she wouldn't let anyone forget it).

I was their first grandchild.

Circa 1982

Grandpa Extraordinaire

On her couch, basking in the glory of the pin curls she put in my hair the night before. How I loved having curls!

I just WISH I had a picture of her wearing her fabulously enormous "signature" glasses.

Nose to nose, eyeball to eyeball. Always laughing.

They adored each other til the very end.

I'm so happy to have this photo of her with my boys.

This may have been the last time I saw her when I'm pretty sure she still knew who I was.

Grandma Dori was the dazzling life of the party. She could make anyone, whether a janitor or the guy bussing a table, feel special because she was truly interested in talking to people and making them laugh. She leaves behind her three beloved sons, their wives, five grandchildren, 4 great-grandchildren and plenty of nieces and nephews. She lived a very, very good life. I'm so lucky to have had her for a Grandmother.