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I first met Jannie, as all her grandchildren called her, Thanksgiving Day, 1977.  Holly and Bevan's wedding was scheduled for February, so she invited us to Tulsa to have Thanksgiving with her family.Â
She and Will Frank, or Hoppa, as the granchildren called him, lived in a spacious home along a quiet street. lined with towering oaks.  She was a bundle of energy bouncing around supervising everything.  I liked both of them.Â
Both she and Will Frank were gracious hosts, immediately taking a liking to my grandson, who was three at the time. Â I guessed them to be in their early 70's.
I learned later that  Jannie was 82 and Will Frank was 79.  As Jannie told me "I robbed the cradle."
She was an interesting lady full of fascinating tales about her life.  When she came to visit Holly and Bevan, she always had a gift for Grandson and would delight in showing him what she had brought.  The two of them would sit on the floor in their own world of make believe.Â
They doted on Bevan, their first grandson, and made no secret of the fact that he was their favorite.  As time went by, I learned that they had practically raised Bevan and his two younger brothers.
Bevan's mother is not the most stable person in the world.  Jannie and Hoppa stepped in and saw to it that the kids always had what they needed.  They became their grandchildren's role models.
Hoppa had been a pilot during World War II; he flew for many years after leaving the military, later becoming an aircraft salesman.  At Age 90, he was still going to the local municipal airport every day, wheeling and dealing.
Bevan joined the air force after college and became a navigator on B-52's primarily because of his admiration for his grandfather.  He was a captain in the air force stationed at Tinker Air Force Base in OKC when Holly met him.  Â
What are the chances an Oklahoma girl would meet an Oklahoma airman, considering the thousands at Tinker.  But that is exactly what happened. However, that's a story for another time.
Jannie began to have back problems when she was about 90.  For the last two years, she had been on constant strong medication for pain, had lost a lot of weight, and had become almost bedfast.
Hoppa insisted on caring for her himself until this past year when Bevan's mother moved in to help.
Just before Christmas, she had to be hospitalized because she had taken a turn for the worst.  Her organs had begun slowly to shut down. The doctors recommended hospice.
Yesterday morning, she slipped the bounds of earth and is flying free once more with no pain.  She was 95.Â
Good-bye, Jannie. Â I will miss you.
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