Dorothy Elizabeth Vasvary
Steve’s grandmother Dorothy Elizabeth Vasvary passed away today (Dec 13, 2005). Grandma Vasvary has been battling Alzheimer’s disease for the last seven years so the family is mourning her passing but thankful she’s no longer suffering from dementia. My grandfather is a wonderful husband. For the last seven years, he has cared for my grandmother almost to the point of exhaustion. Alzheimer’s patients are a lot of work because they cannot function for themselves and are often confused and irritable. My grandmother was spared the extremes of the disease but the family still had to watch her slowly slip away.
We were fortunate to have Grandpa and Grandma Vasvary visit the family in Redmond in August of this year. Grandma Vasvary got to meet a 3 month old Allison and spend some quality time with Katherine. Katherine had a hard time understanding Grandma Vasvary because she never had experienced a grown up with dementia. I explained Grandma Vasvary’s condition to Katherine as “sometimes old people have trouble with words just like babies”. Katherine enjoyed string Cheerio necklaces with Grandma Vasvary.
I wanted to close by saying some words about my Grandma Vasvary. My grandmother was a very independent, curious, and unique individual. Grandma Vasvary would babysit me a lot in my early years as I can credit a lot of my personality to spending quality time with her. She had a lot of patience for my thousands of questions and would often take me on outings to local parks, museums, or her favorite, garage sales. A lot of my personality I can trace back to my Grandma Vasvary: independence, curiosity, shaping yomyur environment to mybeliefs, having strong beliefs and not caring too much about what other people think. She taught me to question things and not accept the status quo. Grandma Vasvary grew up in the South and had a disarming southern charm. She could strike up a conversation with anyone and make them feel comfortable.
We will miss her deeply but her spirit lives on in me which I will pass along to our children. The family is looking forward to spending more quality time with Grandpa Vasvary over the Christmas holidays.
The photos are from a visit to Fullerton in June, 2003 with Katherine and a visit by the Vasvarys to Redmond in August, 2005.
