Hayley Maxwell
Oh man, what these last 10 years of loving on Garland and Linda have meant to me. I claimed them as my grandparents, and they claimed me as their granddaughter. They truly became my family away from home.
I have so many memories with them—going to estate sales and garage sales, crafting and gardening together, taking trips to Ponca to see the elk, and learning how to make Linda’s famous coconut crème pies. We even had Easter egg hunts in the house for the adults! I loved helping them fix and clean houses to resell, hanging out at their home watching old movies, and being their go-to tech helper for the computer, TV, or Cricut machine (honestly, I think Linda ended up getting better at that machine than I did, lol).
Mrs. Linda also had opinions about fashion, and she never held back. She absolutely told me when something “was not my color” or that I “shouldn’t wear stripes,” and she even gave me a whole book on fashion. While I still don’t have the best style, she definitely taught me a few things. I could always count on her to be honest—whether I asked for it or not—because she would just smile and say, “You need to hear it.”
And I loved how she always had her nails done every single Sunday morning. Every week, without fail, she showed up polished, put together, and creative as ever. That girl could paint—she was so talented and artistic in everything she did.
We spent so many evenings driving around Fayetteville looking for deer, and every Sunday I looked forward to sitting next to them in church and going out to lunch afterward—usually Penguin Ed’s BBQ. They were there for me when I was sick, and they helped me take care of my own grandmother. They showed me so much love while I’ve lived up here, and I wouldn’t trade a single moment of it.
I loved hearing their weekly adventure stories over lunch after church, and listening to them talk about their travels out of state. And I especially loved hearing about their family—Mrs. Linda was so excited to be having a great-grandbaby.
I’m going to miss having these two by my side, but I know they are celebrating life with Jesus.