Lois Walton passed away last Friday in Utah and her funeral will be here in Los Gatos this Saturday. When we first moved here 14 years ago, Lois and Lee Walton felt like the Grandparents of the Los Gatos Ward. It was their nature to make you feel like a part of their big family! When I remember Grandma Walton one indelible memory will be of Lois, this cute elderly woman, swinging at a pinata! It's a great visual!
For some reason that I cannot recall, I incorporated a candy stuffed pinata into a message for a Relief Society Board meeting at our house several years ago.
The women at that meeting were mostly older and I wasn't sure if I'd be able to get them to participate. I had a "What were you thinking?" panic moment when I first introduced my plan to take turns hitting this pinata in our yard.
Some of the women clearly thought I was a little odd, perhaps a bit off-kilter...this was not a kid's birthday after all! But Lois was ready to don the blindfold and swing the bat! Whew! Her participation gave my little game/object lesson enough credibility to get some others in on the fun.
It's just a tiny vignette in my mind's eye. In fact, the big oak we swung the pinata rope over has died and been replaced by a palm tree. There are so many "moments" within the context of a life and this was a ten minute activity but it left me with a mental image of a Lois Walton, bat in hand and bandana over her eyes, swinging at a pinata. And so her legacy lives on! Because, in the moment that Grandma Walton supported my silly game, she left a memory!
So, it's a small thing but whenever I see a pinata, I'll remember Lois Walton! Fondly!
