Lucille Kooyman Hagen

This past few weeks my Grandma Hagen has been on my mind. My aunt called and wanted to put together a book of memories of her. It has kept my mind spinning constantly of things that I remember about my grandma.
I found a picture of my grandma in my grandpa's journal.
I wish that I had more pictures of her when she was younger. Of course I tend to think of my grandma as old because that is how I knew her. I see a lot of my aunt in her. I wonder how many of my siblings have ever seen this picture?

The one thing that I remember most about my grandma is that she was always busy. Whether she would be in the kitchen cooking, doing extraction work or writing letters. She never seemed to me that she would ever just be sitting.

My grandparents lived in North Ogden when I was little. Old age brought them to Cedar City where they were closer to family and that is where they lived until they passed away.

However, my favorite memories of my grandparents are in North Ogden. They had the coolest house. The yard was also a favorite of mine, Curtis and Dan. The other two, Susan and Barb were too little to remember much about North Ogden.

They had the best climbing trees. Grandpa even put a swing in one of the trees. We made him push us for hours. We would fight who would get to swing and for how long and so grandpa would always say... "you have to get out when the cat dies" I remember always looking around for a cat, but could never find one. When the cat dies meant that when the swing came to a stop after the last push we were done. We always thought that was fair.

We would go get cucumbers out of the garden and take them in the house. Grandma and grandpa would help us carve the cucumbers into boats. Then we would take them to the ditch that ran in the front yard and sail our "boats." My brothers and I would have races for hours.

My sisters don't remember grandma like I do. It makes me sad because they missed out on a lot of fun memories we had at that old house. I guess that is why I wanted to write this. To help them get to know the grandma that I knew.

Grandma helped me through my mission so much with her letters. Every week I could count on a letter from grandma with words of encouragement for me. I think she knew of my struggles and would do her best to buoy me up. I have saved every letter she sent me. I read them still every once in awhile. It is like she is sending her love from heaven. They still help buoy me up when I get down.
Thank you so much Grandma, I love and miss you! Especially during the holiday season.
Thank you for caring and loving me. I can still feel your soft warm arms around me encouraging me.
I have some wonderful memories of my grandparents and their home. They are some of my favorite child hood memories.