Timeline

Mary Arndt

Mary survived by her husband, children and grandchildren. Her husband was Hans Frederick Arndt 9/20/14-3/14/82Her children are Vic, Fred, Terry, Dick, Mary(Caroll (Terry) 7/1/39-4/8/2005) (Richard (Dick) Arndt 11/22/36-1/22/06)(Hans Frederick Arndt (Fred) 12/4/44-11/16/17)(Victor Arndt Passed I am looking for the dates)Grandchildren areShane, John, Sharon, Sandra, Sonya, Stacey, Jim, Cj, and Missy(Stacey has passed)Mary resided in Sac City Iowa. It was a small town but quaint. Everyone Knew Mary Arndt 😊. She was a Christian woman who attended church every Sunday and if we were there that weekend we were going with. I loved going though. I loved going to bible school then sitting next to her in church. I would play with my doll or I would pull the skin on her arm and watch it rise and fall. She would just smile and put her arm across my lap. It's funny the little things we remember. Those times those memories are what mean the most and stick with you through out life. Of course I have tons of stories and memories to share; those will all come in time. I can tell you though that my grandmother is very special to me and holds a dear place in my heart that aches for her everyday.Let's see if I can tell you a little more about Sac City and the green house on Maine St. The green house was the first house you seen coming into town and that was grandmas. I could tell you every inch of that house from top to bottom. Well if you continued down Main street you would see the Villager which was a restaurant we would go to when we visited. Then all the small shops downtown. The hardware store was the best it had everything. That is where my grandma made the mistake and told me whatever you want honey throw in the cart. I carried that through out life. I think it has gotten me into trouble. 😉At grandmas I kept busy from playing barbies, to running around outside, or reading a book next to grandma.  You would also find me going into her room and sitting on the floor going through her jewelry and playing with her necklaces. My brothers and I would be so excited to go visit Grandma and Uncle Terry. The boys would go help in the garage or go back behind the garage and ride those snowmobiles. They would take me along, when I would beg enough. Oh boy did I pay for that. They would jump those tiny sometimes big hills from the corn fields and of coarse I would be on back and they would go so fast and I would fall off. They thought it was funny to watch me bounce a couple of times. I am sure they enjoyed every minute of it because they knew I wouldn't go tell, or Uncle Terry would take the snowmobiles away. Winters were always fun. During the summer if we weren't at the swimming pool or out roaming around grandma would take us for ice cream. We would take a drive to Lake View for ice cream when we would go visit. She would take us and it was usually a Saturday evening drive. Grandma was good at keeping us busy, but I think we kept her busier. We would climb the pantry shelves to get to those cookies and making her heart skip a beat. We knew where all the good snacks were. We always found them. Grandma always kept the best snacks. I miss her cooking and her baking…   Here is a funny story that we were always told. My Uncle Terry had a Shelby Cobra (Beautiful car) and he would drive it up and down Maine street and he would get harassed by the cops and he told my grandma. Oh was she mad… She took his keys and put on his cap and she took the car for a spin and she got pulled over and the cop said something to her like good afternoon Mary, we didn't know that was you. I think that was the last time my Uncle Terry got pulled over in town.  You didn't mess with Mary's kids.To skip forward a little; I remember going and taking care of her when she had her knee surgery and being there for her and doing her every day things. I enjoyed that time with her. She especially loved me for making her eat her yogurt (Sarcasm). Since she couldn't go to church at that time, I would make sure she had her “Our Daily Breads” to read. I used to sit with her and read them with her. We also watched a lot of Murder she wrote. You have to make all those moments count. You never know when you don't have any more of those moments. So make them count.I still remember the last conversation that I had with her before she passed away. I was living in Germany at the time with my husband and my son. I called my mom who was taking care of her during this time. We were talking and I was telling her to tell grandma I love her. She said Missy let me wake her from her nap because if I don't you may never talk to her again. So I waited for her to come on the phone. I yearned for her voice. I wanted to hug her and be with her so bad. She sounded very tired. She said “Hi Missy, how are you”? “I am good grandma and you”? Well Missy “I am going to die and it's ok that you are not here and I understand why you can't be. We will be together again someday”. She was trying to comfort me while she was dying. She was the one being strong. That conversation was the last one we had. She died two days later. I know Christmas is near; I keep singing the song she disliked the most. I would go around singing it just to get her to tell me we don't sing to a tree. It was so funny. She couldn't stand that song. I loved going to Sac City for Christmas you could feel the love. Grandma was always full of hugs and kisses. I loved helping her bake and set the table. (I didn't like the clean up part though).I just wish that I could see her, hug her, smell her, and tell her I love her.