Hero.

Lois Finnegan

(August 3, 1927 - April 7, 2001)

This beautiful lady is my "Grama Figanin".

She is undoubtedly my hero.

This woman encompassed everything I strive to be.

She was smart, kind, tactful, caring, and strong.

She raised six children, worked outside of the home, worked the business side of the farm, and so much more.

She lost my Gramdpa, Lloyd Finnegan, in 1981.

At the time she lost my Grandpa to Malignant Melanoma, (Skin Cancer), she was 52, and still had an 11 year old son to raise.

The perseverance of my Gram astonishes, and inspires me.

I can still remember her stressing the importance of good manners, and proper word choice.

She used to drive me nuts with her, "Oh my gosh, not oh my god."

But she sometimes forgot her own rules, one of my mom's favorite stories is about on of my gram's few language slip-ups.

Gram must have said, "shit", then realizing I heard her, corrected herself, and said, "shoot, not shit".

Well to make a long story short, I assumed that I should say "shoot, not shit" when I felt frustrated, so whenever I would drive my little "beep-beep" truck into the wall I would yell at the top of my lungs, "SHOOT, NOT SHIT."

I have always idolized my Gram, and I basically became her adopted child, along with my cousin Molly Finnegan.

Everyday I would call Gram up and say the same thing, "Hello Grandma, can I come over?"

Who could say no to that?

Gram, Molly, and I would go for incredibly long car rides down backroads.

Gram had to make the rounds and see what other people were doing.

She and her best friend Hazel Cote were quite the queens of gossip.

Her car rides usually ended with a "smartie candy" collection by Molly and I.

Afterwards we would drive the tricycles in circles around the garage and breezeway.

Sometimes Molly would even get to drive the lawnmower, making me a very jealous boy.

Losing my Gram the day before my eighth birthday was by far the hardest thing I have ever had to deal with. Molly, (my Gram's second adopted child) lost Gram two days after her birthday.

She certainly didn't pick a great time to leave us.

My Gram taught me more about life than anyone has ever has, I am eternally grateful for the time I was lucky enough to spend with her.

She was a blessing. I miss that lady more than anything, and I think about her daily.

The lessons learned and the memories had are priceless.

I wish she was still here, I wish she was able to be there at my graduation, I wish I was able to dance with her at my wedding, but I know she will be there in spirit.

One of the songs that used to play on our long car rides makes me think about her being here in spirit. The Lonestar song, "I'm already there" says,

"I'm already there

Don't make a sound
I'm the beat in your heart
I'm the moonlight shining down
I'm the whisper in the wind
And I'll be there until the end
Can you feel the love that we share"

RIP Gram.

I miss you.

Gram and I

Gram and I after Tot-time graduation.

Gram with most of her grandchildren.