The Encouraging Crafter

When my mom was thirty, she found out a very interesting detail about her parents. They had never been married! Her father, my grandfather Jack Collier, was married to another woman! So…let us start at the beginning.

Jack Collier was married to Ivy Burnham in the early 1920’s and had two daughters, Pansy and Barbara. He lived in Yorkshire, a big fishing town. Most of his family were in the fishing business one way or another. He came home from work one day sick and found his wife in bed with another man!!!! Well, needless to say, he left her. He tried to go home to his parents but his dad said “you made your bed now lay in it” which seems cold considering the circumstances. He went to live with his grandmother for a while. Because his wife, Ivy, was Catholic, she wouldn’t divorce. Not really sure how the affair was okay??

Anyway, he decided to move to Leicester which is the considered the midlands of England and eventually met my grandmother, Phyllis Ann Lord. They began to date and eventually had a family. They had 5 children, one of which passed away at 3 of pneumonia. From everything my mom talked about, she had a pretty happy childhood. They were poor, but who wasn’t back then due to the war and recession. Speaking of the war my grandfather spent 4 years away fighting in WWII. Later my grandfather started working at the newspaper factory. My mom said that her dad loved to draw and would bring home blank paper off the ends of the rolls from work and would draw things for them to color and also taught them to draw different things. My mother learned to knit from her mother, she started knitting around 5 years of age. She told me a story once of unraveling old sweaters and using sticks to knit because they didn’t have much money. At Christmas she was happy to get yarn and needles to knit.

Fast forward to my mom when she was thirty, her father had been sick sometime with terminal cancer. During this time he received news that his wife, Ivy, had passed away. This is when they called all the kids together to tell them they were never actually married. He was now free to marry my grandmother. They had raised their family with the kids and had a happy life. My grandparents had a wedding with the justice of the peace.

Several weeks after they were married, my grandfather passed away. He told my grandmother that he had waited his whole life to marry her. How sweet is that?!? It just melts my heart! What love he must have had for her and her for him. The love that my mother showed to her family was taught to her by her parents.

It goes to show that from hurt can come joy and from pain can come healing. I never had the opportunity to know my grandfather, but him being human, he had to be hurt by the affair. But, through that hurt he found joy with my grandmother. The same can be said for us dealing with the loss of our mother. Even in our pain, we have had moments of joy and laughter. Psalms 30:5b says “Weeping my tarry for the night, but joy comes in the morning”. I can feel the days getting easier. There are moments that pull you back down, but you learn to lean into God and trust that He will see us through. I can feel his peace comforting me. I feel the prayers of all of my friends and family. In my mom’s poem, she wrote…do not grieve too long. My mom of course knew we would miss her, but she would want us to remember the happy times. Those happy thoughts get me through.

Thank you to all who are continuing to pray for my family. I am a blessed woman to have so many friends who I know are still praying for us. They mean more than you will ever know. God hears our prayers. It is an amazing feeling to know that the creator of all of the universe takes his time to listen to us.

Much Love,
Katrina with the help of her wonderful sister Jacqueline who helped with most of the historical details!