A Sad Farewell!

We said good-bye to my grandmother on Sunday, November 18, 2018 at her home her in Bowling Green.  She was 89, and we all loved her very much!  The last few years have been tough, watching her go through Alzheimer's.  She'd have her good moments and bad moments.  Sometimes I was Becky and Matt was Dennis and other times she'd know exactly who I was.  The Thursday (prior to the 18th), Mom asked us to come over and see her.  They'd taken her off all her medicines (that last week) and she was alert and seemed to recognize all of us.  It was a special moment being there with her.  I was able to see her one last time on Sunday and left around 4 PM - she passed at 5 PM with my mom holding her hand.

I worked on a collage to display at the funeral home and gathered lots of pictures which churned up lots of memories! Shannon and I were her only grandaughters.  During our childhood, teen and young adult years, we spent lots of time in Louisville visiting our extended family there.  It was such a drastic difference going over to Poppy and Memaw's when we were young.  The Pogue's, my dad's family, was a FULL house - Dad is the oldest of six.  Everyone of his siblings married and had a couple of kids.  We had cousins everywhere - it was loud, it was fun, we were constantly entertained by games, toys, new gadgets, stories, everything.  Poppy and Memaw's was quiet - my uncle never married and Shannon and I were the only kids.  As we grew older, we appreciated time away from the wild and crazy, but when we were young, we entertained ourselves.  Memaw would always siphon out toys from cereal boxes and lay them in our bedroom when we came over to stay.  They had bathroom/shower that connected through a secret passage to our bedroom so that was a fun, new world.  They had a full bar downstairs in their basement which had lots of interesting paraphernalia and a typewriter Shannon and I would peck on.  There was usually some sort of box of chocolate - Russell Stovers or Whitmans.  Memaw never minded that I would push my finger through each one of them, to inspect the insides and select the one's I liked. The basement had a bumper pool table, puzzles, a piano, lots of Mason jars and collectibles, and our favorite - old old gumball machine.  When Memaw and Poppy would take bus trip/vacations, they liked to travel around, they would always bring us back a souvenir of some sort - usually a shirt.  During the holidays, Memaw liked to treat us to Christmas shopping at the Oxmoor Mall.  She'd race down the Watterson Expressway like Cameron Diaz in My Best Friends Wedding and yell at all the "old women drivers" out on the road.  We'd get our shopping done and eat at The Blue Boar which was her favorite.
   Christmas was her favorite.  She always sing off-key and miss her queue when we'd sing our yearly carol "The Twelve Days of Christmas."  I always liked that she'd let me have a glass of wine - Manischewitz was their favorite.  When we were older and she'd give us Christmas cash, she always made us give her the card back for reuse each year. She loved playing cards and yelling at her partner and always LOVED cleaning.  It was her mission to always have clean everything - house, dishes, laundry.  Shannon and I learned quickly to hide our my precious clothes when she'd come to town because CLEANING was high on the priority list.  She shrink a sweater or pair jeans quick.  I lost a couple of my favorite pieces to my miniature Barbies when she'd come to our house and do laundry.  She lost her mom during childbirth, and I know life must've been hard but she was spoiled and continued to spoil us, her grand-girls.

  We did the Mannequin challenge back in 2016 - wanted to post it because it was a funny memory with her.  She was a character, and although we'll miss her, we're glad she's reunited with her mom and not suffering anymore.  Love you Memaw!  Thanks for being a wonderful grandma!  And thanks to everyone who has poured out love, cards, flowers, food and totally made this "new normal" tolerable.  We're blessed!

 For posterity:
Bonnie Hartwein, 89 of Bowling Green died November 18, 2018 at her home. The Louisville, Ky native was the daughter of the late Edward Kiray and Elsa Dollenbach Kiray. Mrs. Hartwein was a member of St James United Church of Christ.

She is survived by her husband, William H. Hartwein; her son, Michael W. Hartwein and her daughter, Diane H. Pogue (Lindle). Also surviving are her granddaughters: Shannon P. Maglinger (Paul) and Tiffany P. Deaton (Matthew); great grandchildren: Karson Ann Deaton, Evan Michael Maglinger, Elizabeth Drew Maglinger, Isaac Matthew Deaton and Miles Collin Deaton as well as her brother, John Kiray and several nieces and nephews.

Visitation for Bonnie Hartwein will be Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018 from 2 pm - 5 pm in the chapel of Cone Funeral Home (1510 Campbell Lane) with funeral services to be held at 5 pm.
Cone Funeral Home in charge of arrangements.