Ellen Werner

Ellen Werner passed away last year, she was loved by many and was my fiances Grandmother. She meant so much to everyone that was blessed to have known her. In the last years of Ellen’s life, she said to me on several occasions, "Don't ever get old." I thought about this for quite some time, watching her struggle with physical difficulties from which she would never quite recover. I decided that this was one piece of advice she would give me in the short time that I was blessed to have known her that I was going to try to ignore. I don't know about you, but I'd be so much less complete as a person if she followed her own advice.

• If she hadn't gotten old, I wouldn't have seen such a great example of finding new interests and developing new skills. She showed us how we can continue to make a contribution to our families and our communities even through the most trying of time.
• If she hadn't gotten old, I probably wouldn't have realized the power of prayer or the way God can intervene in your life and change your outlook, the way He so obviously did for her.
• If she hadn't gotten old, she wouldn't have been around to talk to me and encourage my fiancé all those times to go shopping at the Christmas tree shop, or just go and have fun at the casino.
• I think all of these qualities were present in her years before I ever met Ellen. But, if she hadn't gotten old, I wouldn't have had the opportunity to see them.

Today we remember her hope, for each of her kids, and her grandkids, and her great-grandchild, her brothers, her nieces and nephews, her friends and her extended family that we would all find happiness in our lives, that we would all continue to grow to be good and loving people. We know that she would not be disappointed in any of us. Ellen would be so proud to see all of us and how much we have grown in only a year. So today please take the time to remember what about Ellen we treasured so much.

In honor of Ellen, on her birthday I would like to dedicate this video to her memory and her family with whom I have come to love and care for deeply.

-J