Paxton Blog: Grandma Paxton

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Grandma Paxton

This post is to honor Grandma Paxton, who passed away Decemember 14, 2014. Vauna Paxton is Scott's dad's mom.

She lived 91.5 years which is quite a feat!

Grandma holding Sterling in 2009.

Grandma with her son Marv and daughter Lisa.

Grandma Paxton passed away on the morning of December 14, 2014. Her anniversary is December 15th. We think that her late husband Baker came to get her to bring her home. Baker passed away probably 20 years ago. He slipped on ice in his driveway and hit his head and never recovered. Sterling's middle name is Baker after him. Anyway, Grandma's funeral was December 20th and it was a wonderful funeral. I learned a lot about Grandma.

Vauna Mae Leany Paxton

She was born May 30, 1923 in Hurricane, Utah, the 2nd of 8 children.
Worked at Wadsworth Soda Fountain in St. George.
She met her husband Baker at a dance.
They were married December 15, 1942, while he was on leave from the US Army.
Her husband taught her how to drive. They were on a bridge where she turned off of it and wrecked. She didn't drive or finish getting her license until 20 years later.
She had 3 children. Ronald 'Ron' (on right), Marvin 'Marv' (on left), and Lisa (center).
She was frugal and clever. She would use things around the house to patch other items.
Once she patched a broken vacuum hose with pantyhose and it ended up working many years later. (She used pantyhose like a man uses duct tape.)
She enjoyed pecan logs and would cut slices so thin for her kids that you could see right through the slice.
She never used a negative word. She was slow to anger. If she was mad, she would exclaim, "I can't stand it!!"
She was an excellent cook and made lace cookies every Christmas.
Her potato salad was a favorite dish.
Tuna fish was one of her choice additions to food. Her grown kids won't eat tuna fish now.
She thought that the burned edges of roast beef were the most delicious. She would serve her husband especially the burned parts, until one day he asked her why she was always giving him the gross part. They then worked it out where he ate the good inside and she ate her preferred part, the burned edges.
She once used the flash cubes off old cameras and made a cute ornament.
She could sew anything from looking at it even without a pattern.
She enjoyed reading the newspaper.
She drank Tang and ate half of a banana daily and never got sick.
Her favorite hobbies were her neighborhood book club and dinner club.
She served pizza and lunch at Skyline High School for 31 years.

The two things I will remember about Grandma are her pretty white hair and her cute little laugh. She was always happy when we stopped by to visit and enjoyable to talk to. She lived in East Millcreek for as long as I can remember. When she grew weak, she moved to Mount Olympus Care Center which was just a mile down the road from her place. Every Halloween we would stop by and show her the kids' costumes. She always lit up and took a picture of us. I loved the years when she gifted us subscriptions to the Reader's Digest. That was nice of her. She was softspoken and sweet.