Genaw Family: Honored to have known Jean N. Landale

I am very lucky to have known my great grandparents. Many people don't know their grand parents, let alone their great grand parents.

Granny at her 50th Wedding Anniversary!

On July 21st, 2012, my Great Grand Mother, Jean N. Landale, passed away at the age of 88. Granny was born on Jan. 18th, 1924 in London, Ontario, Canada as Jean N. Munro. She lived an amazing life, including serving in the Canadian Navy. Granny married her sweetheart (married for 67 years), Hugh Landale, and they eventually moved to MI. Jean and Hugh had two children, Nancy and Lanny. Lanny married Mary Chittenden and they had 4 daughters: Lori, Kim, Kristy, and Heather. Lanny & Mary have since divorced. Lanny is married to Carole and Mary married Bill Gillard. Nancy married Bob Roossien and they had 1 daughter, Robyn Roossien. Lori married her high school sweet heart, Sam Smith, and they had 4 children: Amanda Jo, Alyssa Lynn, Kara Anne, and Jared Leonard. Lori & Sam divorced and Lori is now married to Rod Ackerman of Twin Lake, MI. Amanda married her high school sweetheart, Luke Steffes of Coopersville, MI, and they are expecting their first child, a son named Alexander Anthony, in Aug. 2012. Alyssa married Benjamin Thomas of Grand Rapids, MI and they just had their first child, a daughter named Grace Lynn. Kara married Joel Genaw Jr. of Burtchville, MI. Jared is enjoying life as a single man and working lots of hours. Kim married Jeff Holtrop and had two children: Holly Ray, and Ryan Henry. Kim and Jeff have since divorced. Kristy married Jose Layton and they have 3 sons: Joey, Jesse, and Johnny. Jose has 3 daughters from a previous marriage. Heather had her daughter Shelby Rae Kennedy with Jeremy Kennedy, and her two younger children with her husband Nelson Williams: Nelson Jr. and Amberly.

I know that's a lot of geneaology that you probably don't care about, but I wanted to get it down so I can later write it in my book that I bought for geneaology. Granny has a lot down for her side of the family and I can't wait to get photo copies of it! Back to Granny's life.

Jean and Hugh moved to Texas after Nancy & her family did. They still owned a trailer here in Michigan that they kept at my Grandma and Grandpa Smith's (my dad's parents') campground. They would spend the summers here. I remember going to visit them at the campground and we even traveled to Texas to visit them twice when I was in elementary school. When we visited them in Texas the first time, we drove down in our van and arrived in stormy weather. I remember sitting in their spare bedroom watching lightning and listening to the thunder. Another memory I have of Granny and Gramps is their LOVE of breakfast foods. I think we had Canadian Bacon for breakfast every morning on our visit. Over the last few years, Granny has had dementia that was caused by blockages in her carotid arteries. It has gotten worse as time passed and she spent time in and out of rehabilitation facilities, assisted living homes, and at home with Gramps taking care of her. I'm glad to think that she is no longer in pain. They even believe that she has a silent heart attack and that she went peacefully.

There was a nice funeral to celebrate Granny's life yesterday and a luncheon afterwards. We took the opportunity of having the family together to take pictures. We are very lucky to have 5 generations living at this time. I don't know when we'll all be together again, and it's sad to think that this was probably the last time I'll see my gramps.

Granny's Obituary can be seen here: http://obits.dignitymemorial.com/dignity-memorial/obituary.aspx?n=JEAN-LANDALE&lc=4030&pid=158759548&mid=5183665&locale=en-US