Catshanghai

My grandmother Olga died on Friday. She was 92 years old.

Our family is very sad this weekend. Olga was a fun loving woman who enjoyed life right until the end. She enjoyed spending time with her family and her friends. She used to go to the Jewish club a couple of times a week where she always liked to have a laugh and a joke. Her mind was still very sharp.
It was a shock that she passed away when she did, because she had been getting better after suffering from a cold.

We last saw her in the summer during our visit to the UK. We took her out for an evening meal at a local carvery. I remember going back to her flat and seeing her golf dolls as we took photographs and video together as a family one last time.

Olga was very thrilled to hear the news that Jenny is pregnant with our first child. I wish she could have
had the opportunity to see us again after the baby is born. I have lots of memories of going to see her when I was a child. She waits used to feed us with lots of tea and cakes. I used to be scared of going to see her if I had not cut my nails recently, because she always used to make me cut them if they had grown too long.

She is the last of her generation. Her funeral is taking place today on my father’s birthday. After the ceremony the family will go back to my aunt’s house to sit shiva for one week. This is its Jewish tradition of mourning where family and friends gather to pay respect to the deceased and remember a life.

Olga has seen so much change in one lifetime. She was born in 1916. She has seen two world wars, the depression, the adoption of the motorcar, the invention of radio, TV, computers, cell phones and the Internet. She used to marvel at Digital cameras and telephones.

Our family name is Seigal, which has German Jewish origins, but Granma Olga’s father came from Lithuania. When our child is born he or she will also carry on this family name, but as a global citizen who has British and Chinese parents.

God bless you Olga. We will miss you.