And she lives in all of us

As we've lived our lives without her we've discovered many ways that she became a part of us. Things we saw her do and do ourselves because she did or things we admired in her that we strive to do in our own lives or just silly things that for one reason or not we find ourselves doing. Here are the ways she lives on in us...

"When I have something to do or someone to catch. I totally run in church. I try to slow down around kids so that they don't pick up my bad example, and really it's a church run....not a full out run. And Grandma did it all the time."

Sunny Casandra Wadsworth Tangren ( third child of David Wadsworth first child of Nellie and Cecil Wadsworth)

OK. Here's Grandma Nellie's legacy in our house. Becka was making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich the other day and got jelly on the counter. I watched her lean over and lick it up off the counter. I was totally grossed out by the whole thing and asked her what she was doing. She looked at me and said, "Grandma Nellie did that all the time."

Kim Biel Wadsworth ( wife of Gordon Richard Wadsworth sixth and last child of Nellie and Cecil Wadsworth talking about their oldest child Rebecca Wadsworth)

My son, Hyrum, was born seven years after her passing and never met her her in life but today as he was playing his game I heard him say "Oh fiddlesticks!" I have no idea where he got that but it's something that Grandma Nellie said all of the time. It made me smile thinking that perhaps a touch of her lives on even in him.

Sunny Casandra Wadsworth Tangren ( third child of David Cecil Wadsworth first child of Nellie and Cecil Wadsworth)

I've seen mom wipe up a spill on the floor at a church event, just for one example. I have found myself doing the same kind of thing, wiping, picking up, cleaning whatever needed it in public places. She was such a good example of how to help others. Thanks mom!

Dianna Lynn Wadsworth Babcock ( third child of Nellie and Cecil Wadsworth )

On hot summer nights as we would lie in bed, mom would come quietly into the room. She had in her hand a warm damp washcloth. She would remove the covers from the foot of our beds and gently wash our feet. Three of us shared a room. She would go from bed to bed washing our feet in the dark, with only the hallway light to help her see. It felt so wonderful. My eyes well up as I think of it. To this day, if I have worn sandals or gone barefoot, I cannot get in bed without washing my feet. And I think of mom every time.

Linda Rae Wadsworth Robinson ( fourth child of Nellie and Cecil Wadsworth )

I totally leave dishes in water to soak. When Grandma would have her dinner parties she'd put all the dishes in warm soapy water to soak afterwards and wouldn't let anyone do the dishes. Unlike me she probably had them cleaned, dried and back in the cupboards 10 minutes after everyone left though. It kinda bugs my husband because I usually end up leaving them in the water till it's cold and yucky but I justify doing it because she did.

Sunny Casandra Wadsworth Tangren ( third child of David Cecil Wadsworth first child of Nellie and Cecil Wadsworth )

Every time I pick up a crumb or lint or something small off the floor I think of Grandma. She didn't see it and think, I should vacuum , but she'd just pick up the crumb off the floor right then! ( sometimes making her way across the room picking up many little messes as she went)

Nicole Noel Wadsworth Garrick ( first child of David Cecil Wadsworth first child of Nellie and Cecil Wadsworth )

Every time I swing Miles and Celia they love to hear the same song: If I remember right, this is a Nellie song, passed to Char, passed to me and now passed to my two: Mom, am I right?

I love you, a bushel and a peck, a bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck, hug around the neck, and a barrel and a heap, a barrel and a heap and I'm talking in my sleep about you, about you, do da loo da do do doo.

Jeannie Marie Sheneman Voller ( fourth child of Charlene Mavis Wadsworth Miller second child of Nellie and Cecil Wadsoworth)

I remember growing up I always hated the fact that we couldn't have store bought bread. Now, I'm thankful for the legacy of her bread making skills. I baked some yesterday and delivered them to my home teaching families telling them that Nellie sent them some bread. of course, she didn't bake it but she is the reason they were getting it.
Gordon Richard Wadsworth ( sixth child of Nellie and Cecil Wadsworth)

Great Grandchildren remember Grandma Nellie

I dont really remeber her all that much. I do remeber being really little and staying over there for dinner one evening. and I remeber the chairs being so high I could barely climb up onto them. I remeber the taste of the bread and the sweetness of her jam over the top. I also vaguly remeber being a little girl making homemade bread and jam with her. and she kept her flour in a old milk can. I remeber that she had a cookie jar that never seemed to be empty. And that she gave lots of hugs.

Tiffany Sheneman ( first child of Timothy Sheneman, second son of Charlene Wadsworth Miller, second daughter of Nellie and Cecil Wadsworth )

I remember that her birthday was January 15th which was two days before mine. She would always have a cookie ready for us when we'd go over there.

Justis Sheneman ( second child of Timothy Sheneman second son of Charlene Wadsworth Miller, second daughter of Nellie and Cecil Wadsworth)

Grandma loved to laugh

One of the sounds we miss most is Grandma's laughter. Grandma was always laughing, most of the time it was at herself. She found so much joy in simply living and she expressed this in laughter. The following are stories of our funny times with her in our own words…

When we were little we were going to Grandma’s house after church for one of her famous mouthwatering pot roast meals. We kids decided to go home with grandma and grandpa because Mom and Dad had choir practice. It was a cold winter day and grandma was wearing a long down coat. When we got into the house grandma took off her coat and we were all shocked to see her standing there with only a blouse and a slip. Grandpa made a comment that I can’t remember (I think something about running out of her skirt) and she looked down and let out a scream. She grabbed her coat back on and we all laughed until we cried. After she put on some different clothes she called my dad at church. She laughed so hard when she told him she lost her skirt at church and could he look for it. The laughs continued when my dad brought home someone else’s skirt from church!!! Who could imagine two people loosing their skirts and church on the same day!

Holly Wadsworth Avery (second child of David Wadsworth, first child of Nellie and Cecil Wadsworth)

I had been at Grandma’s house for her to alter yet another article of clothing. She had me try on the clothes so she knew what she had to do and then she would alter it then have me try it on again. After a half an hour with her, helping her sew, I realized that she had her shirt on inside out. Neither she nor I had noticed previously and we laughed non stop for about 15 minutes with tears streaming down our faces.

Sunny Wadsworth Tangren (third daughter of David Wadsworth, who was first child of Nellie and Cecil Wadsworth)

I remembered being there up on the farm one day and there were about eight of us missionaries and we were cutting wood or doing something for them up there and Grandma came up and said to us “Oh there’s this other place on the property that I want you to take care of too” and we said “Ok, where is it” and she said “Come follow me!” and she took off running. We took off running too and we couldn’t keep up with her. And then I realized what we must look like; eight 20 year olds running after an 80 year old woman. I just had to sit down and laugh.

Unnamed Missionary

I remember a time when grandma was watching us and we were in her car (the Toyota that she called her “Toy” a play on Toyota). While we were driving around she saw a man in a pick-up truck that dropped a piece of plywood out of the back of his truck. She was determined to find this man and tell him that he’d dropped the wood and whipped around corners and down streets trying to catch him while we all sat in the back seat crying “Where’s the beef” because there had been a commercial for Wendy’s that had an old woman not big enough to see over the steering wheel driving around wildly while two other old women were in back sliding from side to side and the punch line of the commercial was “Where’s the beef” She just laughed and laughed, us along with her. She never was able to find the man who lost part of his load but we had so much fun trying to find him.

Sunny Wadsworth Tangren (third daughter of David Wadsworth, who was first child of Nellie and Cecil Wadsworth)

Grandma was an optimist

Grandma always looked at the bright side of life. Everything was just so close to being better. She spread her optimism like the rays of the sun, warming and cheering everyone it touched. Here are some stories of those who were touched by that light in their own words…

Mom was the eternal optimist. When I would show her my report card, she would look at the "C's" and say, enthusiastically, "That’s almost a B!" the B's "that’s almost an A!" While other kids were being grounded for less than perfect grades, my dear mother was standing by, cheering me on.

Linda Wadsworth Robinson (fourth child of Nellie and Cecil Wadsworth)

The number on her time card at Steketees (the place where she worked as and alterations seamstress and sales clerk) was 2 and they were hiring college kids in at a higher wage than she was making. I once asked her “Why don’t you complain?” and her reply was simply “I’m making good money” And she was so excited that she got a raise. We decided that the cost of living went up and so did minimum wage and they had just brought her up to minimum wage.

Andra Robinson (husband of Linda Wadsworth Robinson, fourth child of Nellie and Cecil Wadsworth)

I was reminded again about Grandma and her Visiting Teaching list. When she died she was my visiting teaching supervisor. Every month she would call me to see who I'd visited on my list of 3-4 people. That was incentive for me to get it done for sure! But of course, I'm not Grandma and so I didn't always get to visit everyone. She always made me feel like it was ok. She'd go on about "I don't know how you girls do it these days! Your lives are so busy with the children and callings and working and families to tend to." As if she wasn't busy! She would not only visit teach every month the 14 or so people who were on her list, but bring them a treat every time!
Nicole Wadsworth Garrick (First child of David Wadsworth first child of Nellie and Cecil Wadsworth)

When I was over at the house yesterday I was looking at the calendar, looking at her writing and what was happening in her life, when the missionaries were coming over and everything. On the 28^th , the day she died there was a little sticker that said “Vacation”*

Linda Robinson (fourth child of Nellie and Cecil Wadsworth)

*Now that’s confidence of being ready. Well we were going to go out to Salt Lake to go to Conference and we couldn’t get tickets to go to Conference and selfish me I said “ Well let’s go another time when I can have something to do besides just go to conference” They wanted to go to a missionary reunion and go to conference. When we couldn’t get tickets for General Conference I thought “We can just watch it on T.V. here.” I talked to Mom and Dad and asked if we might postpone the trip a little while. Mom was quite disappointed because the missionary reunion she wanted to go to. When Dad and I talked about it we decided that if they went to the missionary reunion there would probably be one or two people there that they actually worked with. It seemed a lot of vacation time and a lot of money to go all the way out there just to see one or two people. I suggested that we plan a little reunion with the few people they wanted to see and we’d have them up to Salt Lake when we went out there later. Mom said “Ok, That’d be fine” I asked “Are you sure you’re not disappointed.” She assured me that she wasn’t but later I found out that she was trying to find airfare to go out to Salt Lake City anyway. I called here and said “Mom, you said that you weren’t disappointed about this. If you want to go I’ll drive you” She said “Oh no I’m not disappointed at all and besides that, Daddy doesn’t feel good about it either.” Well guess what, she went to Conference anyway without us. And she went to her missionary reunion( or is going tomorrow). She was determined to get there one way or the other.*

Charlene Wadsworth Miller (second child of Nellie and Cecil Wadsworth)

*as told at a family get together the day before her funeral

She and Grandpa came to visit our family one year when we were living in Sheridan, Montana.
We were all sitting around the television one evening, watching a particularly gory horror film.
Grandma, of course, was in the background, running around and cooking and cleaning etc. She came over to sit with us for a moment,(ever present dish towel in hand) during the films goriest climax. We were all sitting silently, horrified, looking at the screen though our fingers, so as to block out some of the gore.
Grandma cheerfully piped up and said "Now Cecil, I LIKE those curtains!" referring to the curtains in the bloody scene in front of us. That was Grandma. There is beauty in EVERY situation!

Sue Babcock Biegel ( second child of Dianna Wadsworth Babbcock third child of Nellie and Cecil Wadsworth)

Grandma loved to give

If there was one thing that we know about Grandma is that she loved to give. She never let a birthday or a Christmas go by without something being given but that’s not the only time she gave. She often couldn’t give much but she gave all she could. Here are some stories written by the recipients of her gifts in their own words.

I was on my mission and it was towards the end of the month and I had no money and I didn’t have any food either. I didn’t know what I was going to do because I had to eat of course. I got my mail and there was a letter from grandma and she had sent me two dollars. And I went and bought milk and that was all I needed because I had cereal I just didn’t have anything to eat it with. I lived for the rest of the month on two dollars. She said in the letter ”I wish it could be more, but it is all that I have and I wanted you to have it” In my brain I would have just said “It’s just two dollars and it’s twenty three cents on top of that to send it. What a hassle.” But it made all the difference in the world to me.

Andrew Sheneman (third child of Charlene Wadsworth (Sheneman) Miller, second child of Nellie and Cecil Wadsworth)

She just wanted a present for everyone. Charlie’s birthday is today and I told her about it last week and she said “What am I going to get Charlie” I said “Mom, Charlie doesn’t need anything and they don’t expect you to buy him a gift.” But no she wanted to buy him a gift. She wanted to give everyone a gift who’s birthday it was or who’s wedding it was. Anybody in the ward who had a wedding, Mom was there with a present. And she probably, in fact I know she she’d got things up in her closet that she bought ahead of time for wedding gifts, so she could give to everybody.*

Charlene Wadsworth Miller (second child of Nellie and Cecil Wadsworth)

*As told at the family gathering the day before her funeral

I know whenever Ethan (2) saw Grandma and Grandpa he would go up and say “Candy, Candy” and she would say “Give me a kiss” and he would give her anything she wanted. I remember on Sunday she was doing choir practice and Ethan was holding Nathan’s scriptures (they looked like a briefcase for him because he’s so small) and he was following her and she said “Come on, let me sit down and I’ll give you some candy” He walked up to the woman beside her and put down the scriptures and stood in front of her (the other woman) and then looked up realized it wasn’t Grandma picked up the scriptures, walked in front of Grandma put down the scriptures and waited for her to give him candy. After church we were giving Grandma and Grandpa something and as soon as Ethan saw the car he said “Candy, Candy” She was just “Candy Grandma” to him.*

Holly Wadsworth Avery (best child of David Wadsworth, first child of Nellie and Cecil Wadsworth)

*As told at a family gathering the day before her funeral

I will always remember how excited Grandma got about her presents. Whether it was a sampler box of Whitman chocolates or something we all chipped in to buy her like the curio cabinet or the small television, she beamed with joy. I see her throwing her head back, clutching her gift to her chest, closing her eyes and making a squealing noise. Grandma knew best how to receive as well as she knew how to give.

Sallee Robinson (first child of Linda Wadsworth Robinson, fourth child of Nellie and Cecil Wadsworth)

When I was living in England, Grandma sent me lots of letters. One time she sent a one dollar bill. I thought it was so sweet but knew if I exchanged it, it wouldn’t even amount to one English pound so I tucked it back into the envelope and forgot about it. Much later as a poor college student, I was sorting through stuff from England and found that one dollar bill. While I had enough money to meet my needs, it served as a rare luxury when I was able to go and buy my favorite breadsticks and sauce. I also remember her sending me care packages at college with cookies, chips and misc. yummy treats.

Holly Wadsworth Avery (second child of David Wadsworth, first child of Nellie and Cecil Wadsworth)

It seemed that there were always things hanging on the coat racks at church, dresses, shirts, pairs of pants or coats that grandma had either not wanted any longer or had fixed up that she had hung on the coat racks with a large note pinned (grandma always pinned her notes with straight pins) on to the garment saying “Free, please take” She knew there were those in the ward who may need them and not knowing who they might be just left the articles of clothing on the racks hoping that the person who needed it would find it and take it home. I’m sure there were things hanging on the church coat racks for weeks after she left us waiting for a home to go to.

Sunny Wadsworth Tangren (Third child of David Wadsworth, first child of Nellie and Cecil Wadsworth)

Grandma loved to clean

Grandma loved to help in any way she could but the way she found most of the time was cleaning. From straightening the room to shaking the rug she always did her best to keep the world a cleaner place. The following are stories of the triumphs and tragedies of her quest for cleanliness.

I remember staying at Mom’s house; we would always go there when we were on vacation and you know you’re always going someplace visiting people. So we’d quick change our clothes and leave them on the bed and run off to visit someone else. When we’d come back Mom would have them hung on hangers and the clothes we’d taken off would be folded up. So the next day I threw them in the suitcase and closed the top. I came home and they were all folded up inside the suitcase.

Dianna Babcock Wadsworth (third child of Nellie and Cecil Wadsworth)

When she’d come over to watch the kids she’d do the laundry and she’d mix things up. So I got to the point that when I knew she was coming over to watch the kids I’d do the laundry, because I wanted her to watch the kids and not do the laundry. When I would do the laundry then she would clean the house while she was there. So it got to the point that I would do the laundry and clean the house before she’d come over to watch the kids. And she would always find something like cleaning the windows so then I would clean the windows before she’d come over. All I wanted her to do was watch the kids.

Kim Biel Wadsworth ( Wife of Gordon Richard Wadsworth sixth and last child of Nellie and Cecil Wadsworth)

It was the first year that we were married and we were in this one bedroom apartment over on Mayfield. And it seemed like every time she came over if there was a closet that was cluttered or a bed unmade or a drawer that was messy somehow she found it when she was over. It wasn’t like she was snooping. It just seemed like invariably she would come across it when she was there. One day she called at around 9 o’clock in the morning on a Saturday and said that she was going to stop by at noon to pick something up. I said to Dave “Ok. I’m going to have once in my life where everything is going to be perfect, all the silverware is going to be pointed the same direction…everything is going to be perfect.” And we worked for three hours, just the two of us but we worked for three whole hours to have it perfect. She knocked on the door and I said “This is my moment, it may be the only one but this is my moment” I walked to the door and I turned around to take one more look. Everything was perfectly in place. I opened the door and she was shaking the welcome mat. I said “What are you doing?!” and she said “Oh well I was just waiting here and I thought this could use a shake.”

Pamela Streeter Wadsworth (wife of David Wadsworth first child of Nellie and Cecil Wadsworth)*

*This story was published in the Readers Digest by Pauline Streeter (Pam’s mother) in August of 1985. Published as follows:

YOU CAN'T WIN!
Our daughter's mother-in-law rarely sits down for more than a few minutes at a time. During any visit she dusts furniture, straightens pictures or finds dishes to wash. My daughter took all of this as criticism of her housekeeping.

One day the mother-in-law called to see if it would be all right to drop by. Our daughter informed her husband that this time his mother was not going to find anything that needed doing, but she wanted his help. They cleaned furiously. When the doorbell sounded, she paused for one more look to reassure herself that everything was in perfect order. Then she opened the door-to find the super-energized mother-in-law busily shaking the doormat.

When Suzie was a teenager she never put anything away. Mom came to visit and stayed at our house. Suzie’s room was a mess her floor was just covered and the closet had nothing hanging in it. Mom couldn’t stand that of course so she came in and cleaned it all up and put things away. Suzie came to me and said ”I don’t like it when Grandma does that, I can’t find anything” I said “Ok, well just tell her” So she told her and the next day Mom folded up all the stuff and left them in little piles all over the floor. Where ever it was she folded it and left it there.

Dianna Wadsworth Babcock (third child of Nellie and Cecil Wadsworth. Sue Babcock Biegel is Dianna’s second child)

I remember going to grandma’s house to play. She told me one time that she liked to watch “I Love Lucy” while she cleaned because it made the time go by faster.

Holly Wadsworth Avery(second child of David Wadsworth, first child of Nellie and Cecil Wadsworth)

Grandma loved to serve

It seemed that Grandma was always doing something for someone. She touched so many lives with her selfless service to everyone. It seems everyone has a story of a way that Grandma had served them. From feeding the missionaries regularly (all four sets at once) to mending and making various cloths items to offering ice cream sundaes at any time of the day to sending you home with a loaf of bread or cinnamon rolls. The one thing we know is that one way or another she is serving right now. Here are some stories of those she has served in their own words.

As I was sitting down to start sewing on my roommate Penny’s temple dress tonight I remembered one day going over to Grandma Nellie’s house to have her alter yet another article of clothing. I remember watching her sit down to the sewing machine and before making one stitch bowing her head and saying a simple, silent, humble prayer. I sat and watched her in awe. She explained that she always said a prayer before sewing for other people. Just to insure that everything would go well. She assured me that she did have the occasional problem from time to time but was able to quickly solve the problem and fix the article of clothing without too much trouble. I learned volumes that day as I watched a humble woman pray for assistance with something that she’d been doing for the majority of her life. I thought about how many prayers had been offered as she sewed before making one stitch, along with asking for assistance with my sewing I thanked Heavenly Father for an amazing example of humility and service.

Sunny Wadsworth Tangren ( third daughter of David Wadsworth, first son of Nellie and Cecil Wadsworth)

Nellie was the only person I know that would bring you sausage and sauerkraut to you when you were sick. Many times she would bring it to me because she knew that I liked it and that no one else in my family would eat it.

Pam Streeter Wadsworth ( Wife of David Wadsworth, first son of Nellie and Cecil Wadsworth)

Grandma would invite 10 or more people over to her house for dinner at a time. “You can feed 10 people just as well as you can serve 5” she’d always say. The table never seemed to look like it would have enough food on it to feed all the people she’d invited. In the end, though everyone was STUFFED, there would still be leftovers! It was like the loaves and the fishes at Grandma Nellie’s house.

Nicole Wadsworth Garrick ( first daughter of David Wadsworth, first child of Nellie and Cecil Wadsworth)

Mom could sew anything. so many times I would simply draw a picture of a dress I wanted and she would make it. it was always exactly right! I remember her sewing all night for me so I could have that special dress for....I can't even remember exactly what. Homecoming? Anyway, many years later I told her how much it meant to me that she had stayed up all night to finish the dress. she said..."I didn't even think you knew" That was mom...serving with no expectations of reward or even acknowledgement

Linda Wadsworth Robinson (Fourth child of Nellie and Cecil Wadsworth)

When we got married our apartment wasn’t ready so we stayed for a week at the Armstrongs because they were on vacation and when they came back it still wasn’t ready so we had to move into Dave’s old bedroom. It was this long skinny thing and the bed filled the end of the room and all of our wedding gifts were in that room. It was a small room to begin with then we moved into it. I remember coming home one evening and it was around 10 o’clock at night and I was really tired so he (Dave) said “Let’s go to bed.” Well his folks weren’t home yet. I said “Let’s not because they’re going to wonder where we are” He said “No, We’ll go to bed.” And we no more got into bed when we heard the car drive up. And the moment she got in the house she’s going “Dave, Pam, where are you? Dave, Pam…” I said “Dave would you go and tell them.” And he said ” No, no let her be she’ll know” And I could hear her running through the house “Dave, Pam…” Pretty soon the door opened and she said “Oh!” and shut the door quickly. I thought “ oh shoot.” And said “ Dave, say something to your mother” He said “We’re in bed” Then she said “ Oh, ok I was just wondering where you were” Then came a small knock on the door and she asked ” Is there any laundry I can do?” I said “ No, I don’t think so. I really don’t have much.” She said ok but then shortly thereafter the door began to creep open a crack and I see this hand reach in like a flash and she said “Oh there’s something!” And whipped the clothes out of the room and closed the door. Then she was satisfied now that she had done something for us.

Pamela Streeter Wadsworth ( wife of David Wadsworth, first child of Nellie and Cecil Wadsworth)

As a youth leader in Grandma’s ward, there were lots of times we would like to go to Grandma and do service for them. We would rake and pick up sticks and mow the yard. It seemed however, that no matter how hard we worked grandma outdid us. While we were working in the yard, grandma was feverishly working in the kitchen making a snack or some food to reward us for out efforts. She squealed with delight at the amount of work that was done, but it seemed like we always left feeling like she served us more than we did her.

Holly Wadsworth Avery (second child of David Wadsworth, first child of Nellie and Cecil Wadsworth)

Soon after Mom’s passing, I was going through some of the items that were hers and came upon a little spiral notebook. Upon investigating further, I found inside a note titled

“Things to do”. The list itemized not “things” but rather “people”; people she knew needed assistance of one kind or another. Her desire was to help people, not acquire things.

David Wadsworth (first child of Nellie and Cecil Wadsworth)

We were listening to some church music and they were playing “Let us all press on” and she said “That’s the song I want sung at my funeral…that was two days before she died… she said “ But not that fast of course” Isn’t that interesting.

Charlene Wadsworth Miller (second child of Nellie and Cecil Wadsworth)

*As told at the family gathering the day before her funeral

She very frequently transcribed baby blessings as they were being given in her scrawly long hand. Afterward she would give these notes to the parents of the child so they would have a record of this important day in the life of the new baby. I kind of knew she did this but it never really had as much impact on me until while my dad was going through some of her old papers and found my baby blessing that she had written down and kept. It was so special and amazing to read the words that were said in my baby blessing and to see how those promises had been fulfilled and reiterated in later important blessings. I was further impressed by what she did when I tried my hand at transcribing blessings. It is not an easy thing to do. I am so grateful that she took the time and thought to do this. It is invaluable to me.

Sunny Wadsworth Tangren ( third daughter of David Wadsworth, first son of Nellie and Cecil Wadsworth)

You know when I met with Bishop Jones he said " I called the sisters to let them know that Nellie wouldn't be visiting teaching them anymore and he said every sister had had a visit that month and four had had two visits." I said "How many was she visiting teaching?" And I think he said 17, could you imagine ( I seem to remember 14 or 17 something in that teens - David Wadsworth) Yeah it was some huge number and he said that the bishopric was praying that 8 really energetic women would move into the ward.."

Grandma loved to play with us

Grandma was always so young at heart. Some of our most fond memories of her were of her playing with us. These are some of our memories in our own words.

“On one of the many days we spent at Grandma’s house my cousin Jeannie and I, who were probably around 9 or 10 years of age, decided to play with grandmas make up. We did ourselves up teasing our hair and putting on lots of makeup. By the time we were done we looked quite wild. When our fathers came to pick us up they were not pleased, seeing us the way we looked. But Grandma just looked at us and said simply “ Oh they’re just playing.”

Sunny Wadsworth Tangren (third daughter of David Wadsworth, who was first child of Nellie and Cecil Wadsworth)

“I have so many “Grandma memories” it’s hard to know where to begin, but one of my favorites is when Sallee and I would stay over on the weekend. On Saturday nights grandma would bake us up some warm treats and some hot Postum, and she would start to do her hair up in curlers for church the next day. When it was time for “Lawrence Welk” to be on she would stop whatever she was doing and we would watch with her and dance together as she “tongue-clicked” the melodies. In return for US watching one of HER shows with her she would then sit down and watch a scary movie with US! All the while, running to finish her hair during the commercials…’til we would yell “IT’S ON!” then she would come RUNNING back into the living room with us. Those were the best of times.”

Pam Otto Babcock (first daughter of Dianna Wadsworth Babcock, who was third child of Nellie and Cecil Wadsworth.)

Grandma loved to dance. Even at the youth dances she would be out there on the dance floor with us. She would even try to learn our dances. She would do the electric slide and every country line dance there was, they were her favorites. Regardless of the dances she learned she always reverted to the “swim dance” She was just ageless.

Sunny Wadsworth Tangren (third child of David Wadsworth, first child of Nellie and Cecil Wadsworth)

When mom was 80 she went sledding with us at Richmond Park. No trudging up the hill...she ran! and laughed has she flew down again!
Moms "play" was work. She loved picking produce and canning it. I remember going to a local farm with her one cold autumn day to pick tomatoes. She kept saying "Oh this is so much fun!" that I actually started to believe her! When we got home, she had a pot of homemade soup waiting for us. That was the fun part for me!

Linda Robinson (fourth child of Nellie and Cecil Wadsworth)

As a YW President, Nellie was my Beehive adviser. She would come to all the activities and participate. That became a problem as she was 75+ and insisted on doing whatever the kids were doing: ice blocking down Richmond hill in the middle of the summer, tubing down the river in cool September water, fast dancing at the dances (she would get the kids to teach her the new moves), cleaning the side yards at Church and planting bulbs (I discovered she had never planted bulbs and consistently put them in the ground upside down-Japan has beautiful tulips today). We had to be careful when planning because we knew Nellie would try everything and we didn't want to risk her hurting herself. The girls loved her involvement.

Pamela Wadsworth (wife of David Wadsworth, first child of Nellie and Cecil Wadsworth)

What I remember best is as a Mom with 3 young kids and a husband who traveled nearly half of the year, I would send the kids over to Nellie for an afternoon once in a while (usually, she begged to have them come over). They would come back exhausted and would sleep soundly that night.:) She would start out having them make bread with her, and then they would go outside and RUN! She would get them to race with her around the farm. Then back in the house they'd put the bread into the oven and then play board games. When the bread was ready (not supposed to eat hot bread), they would eat it with homemade jam or jelly. Then, back outside for more running. I was always grateful for those days at Grandma Nellie's.

Pamela Wadsworth (wife of David Wadsworth, first child of Nellie and Cecil Wadsworth)

Sunny and I stayed at Grandma and grandpa’s house, for a stint of time every week. We would sleep together in the spare room. Grandpa had painted stars on the ceiling that would glow in the dark and we just loved that. We thought that was the best thing. On April fools day she let us take down all of grandpa’s paintings and hide them. We went around saying “Somebody stole your paintings! Somebody stole your paintings!” We would have so much fun. We would also make bread with her and form it into the shape of people and dance them around. Flour would be everywhere and she didn’t care. One time when my Mom came to get us and we were all into her make up and my mom said “You shouldn’t wear grandma’s make up” then grandma said “Oh stop! They’re just having a good time.” She just had so much fun with us.

Jeanine Sheneman Voller (fourth child of Charlene Wadsworth (Sheneman) Miller second child of Nellie and Cecil Wadsworth)

At a family get together Sunny, Jeannie and I would go up in grandma’s room. We would all look at Grandma’s jewelry. She had these earrings that had little spark plugs on them. I just loved those spark plug earrings. I thought they were the coolest things ever. But we always had to put them in Jeannie’s ears because she was the only one that had pierced ears.

Holly Wadsworth Avery (second child of David Wadsworth, first child of Nellie and Cecil Wadsworth)

When we were little kids playing at grandma’s she always helped us find magic in everyday things. She taught us how to make dolls out of Hollyhocks, picked raspberries to make jam, played in the covered sandbox, and best of all… made bread. We BEGGED to make bread every time we went there, and most of the time she would agree. We would get the flour from the huge flour barrel that would double as one of the chairs to sit on. My favorite chair was the piano bench that I could spin up high and down low. We loved to knead till our hearts content. Then we would shape them into tiny loaves that fit into her very special tiny bread pans. My favorite part was brushing the top of the loaves with melted butter. I would always sneak little peaces of bread dough to eat. Yummy!! We would make so much bread that all the counters would be filled. Once the bread was baked, we each got to eat our own mini loaves. We made sure we got the right loaf because Grandma had us mark our initials on the top. Bread never tasted so amazing, and life never was more simple.

Holly Wadsworth Avery (second child of David Wadsworth, first child of Nellie and Cecil Wadsworth)