Glenna M. Chiaramonte

Eulogy

My husband told me I should write my own eulogy. He said I was good at it. I had written my mother’s eulogy, my father in law’s, and my mother in law’s eulogy, so I thought why not. So here it goes.

I was born Glenna May Burger on Sept. 29, 1939 at Torrance Memorial Hospital. I was the biggest baby in the Hospital, weighing 10lbs. The nurses nicknamed me “Pudgy”. Little did they know I would carry that nickname my whole life. When I was a kid, it was ok to call me Pudgy, then in young adulthood, it was embarrassing, but in my older years it became an endearment.

I was born of American Indian, German & Irish descent. My mother was born on the Pechanga Indian reservation. She was Indian & Irish, my dad was German. He was in the Navy, but was killed at Pearl Harbor on Dec 7, 1941, when I was 2 years old. My mother never remarried. I had one brother and he passed away in January 2010.

I was raised in Los Angeles, graduated from George Washington High School in June 1957. I attended Los Angeles City College for 1 year, majoring in Home Economics. In my senior year, I had started to work for Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Co. I worked part time. I was thrilled to be employed by Pacific Telephone. I was an operator, then a long distance operator, supervisor, and trained new operators. Then, I transferred to the Accounting Dept., to the Toll Investigation Dept. and worked as a clerk from 1969 until I retired in July 1995. I loved my job. I was always grateful for having worked for such a good company. I was proud of my 38 years with them.

In my younger years, I loved to go dancing. My girlfriends and I would frequent various Latin night clubs in LA at least 3 times a week. What fun I had for about 8 years. And then I met my future husband, David Chiaramonte. We dated for about 1 year and we were married on Oct 1, 1966. We had 2 sons, Bryan and Mario. We made a very good life together. He was such a wonderful husband & father. I felt I was the lucky one to have found him. We traveled and had wonderful vacations each year. Life was good. He worked for Southern California Edison Co. He worked his way up to a good job of buyer, then retired in July 1996. This gave us time to travel & we took many day trips with various travel groups. Retirement was good to both of us.

I really loved my grandchildren. My three granddaughters, Brittany, Brianna, & Chloe. My two grandsons, Joshua & Dominic. I also have 2 great grandsons, Aiden and Evan. I always wanted to give the grandkids fun experiences, so they’d have fond memories.

Nov. 3, 2010

My social life has always been important to me. I belonged to 4 clubs. The TOPS Club, which is a weight watching club. I struggled with my weight my whole life. I also belonged to the Telephone Pioneers, a charity club comprised of retired telephone employees. This club allowed me to do volunteer work. I worked the Pioneer store in Anaheim for 14 years, and worked with vendors who sold their products at the telephone co. locations. Also, I enjoyed attending our monthly luncheons for fellowship.

I also belonged to the Red Hat Society, which was the most fun of all. It was great to put on a purple outfit and a fancy red hat, and go for tea somewhere.

Lastly, I belonged to the St. Louise Social Club. It was fun to meet once a month for pot luck, bingo & just enjoying all of the nice people.

I really loved my parish, St. Louise. Carnival Days was fun. I took the grandkids for their fun times on the rides & games. In earlier years, I would work the Mexican food booth & game booths. After a few years, I gave up the volunteering, so I could focus on the kids. I also was a CCD teacher’s aide for 7 years, and I always loved when I could take the teacher’s place and teach the kids. I always wanted to be a CCD teacher, but never had enough confidence in myself to be one.

I loved tradition and was very old fashion. I was so old fashion , I still hung my clothes out on a clothes line. I only used the dryer for towels & Levis, and of course rainy days.

I loved the traditions of each holiday. Christmas meant decorated the whole house, and best of all, taking the grandkids out to see Xmas lights and then baking Xmas cookies. It’s not Xmas, unless you bake.

Easter was for coloring eggs and having an Easter egg hunt in the back yard.

Summer time was beach time. Off to Huntington Beach with the grandkids for a fun day at the beach. And afterwards, on our way home, a stop at Thrifty’s for an ice cream cone.

The other favorite place was Palm Springs. Even in the heat of summer. I always said Palm Springs is paradise on Earth. So much beauty all in one place.

The other fun place was Las Vegas. My husband and I had a hard time turning down the good offers we’d get. I loved to play video poker, but most of all I loved going to the mall. I’m a bit of a shopaholic. I could spend hours shopping, trying on clothes. Then if I bought anything, so much of the time it would get returned in a few days, because I was always changing my mind. Just a bad habit.

One of my hobbies was gardening, or just plain working in the yard. I always got a feeling of accomplishment, when I worked in the yard, trimming trees & hedges. And what joy I felt if my flowers actually grew & bloomed. I never thought of myself as having a green thumb.

Nov. 3, 2010

I sold Avon for a friend for 27 years. I loved doing Avon, and I enjoyed all of my customers. My customers became friends. I was saddened to stop doing Avon, when I started to get too sick to continue.

I’ve been blessed over and over again, all through my life. God has been very good to me. I always felt very lucky.

I’ve enjoyed good health all of my life, but in June 2010, I was diagnosed with cancer. Even so, I still feel blessed, despite the cancer. I’ve had so many friends & family supporting me. I’ve received so many cards, phone calls, and it has meant so much to me to have their friendship, concern, love and support.

My husband has been my biggest supporter, being so patient, giving, and helpful whenever he could do something for me.

I couldn’t have asked for a nicer husband to help me through a fairly difficult time.

All in all, I feel I’ve been blessed by the good Lord with wonderful family & friends.