Family history moments: Grandmother's blessing
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Before I went into the Army in December of 1966, I stopped to say goodbye to my grandfather and grandmother, Michael and Agnes Rutowski at their home in Milwaukee, Wis. My grandmother, 84, was bedridden with a fractured hip. She motioned me to her bedside and pulled me close to her lips and said "God bless you" and kissed me goodbye.
Those were the parting words of my grandmother. I left for Vietnam and the war, and her death came a few months later. I will never forget her words "God bless you."
And those words came true. God did bless me. I was baptized into the true Church on Feb. 4, 1967, and my wife, Dawn, and my son Eric were sealed in the Mesa Arizona Temple in 1969. My grandmother's blessing did not end there. After I returned home to Milwaukee, every day the thought came to me that I needed to do the temple work for my grandparents.
In gathering the information to take to the temple, I found my grandparents' daughter Marie, who had died. At that time, the nearest temple to our home was in Utah. We sent the paper work ahead, and Dawn and I drove to Salt Lake City.
When we arrived, I had a strong feeling that we should go to the temple to ensure that the paper work was in order. I asked Dawn to just put on a dress and I would put on a white shirt, tie and sports coat and go across the street to the temple. At the temple, I told the sister what we were there for. She said, "Wait a minute," and when she returned, she pinned a name to my shirt and one on Dawn's dress. I tried to tell her that we wanted to return tomorrow as planned. She said "No, you need go now."
We did the initiatory work and then the endowments. It was very late to do the sealings, but I saw a sister sitting by the sealing room. She was waiting to see if anyone needed her help with a sealing. We gratefully accepted her help. Soon, Dawn and I knelt across the altar and were sealed for my grandfather and grandmother and their daughter for time and all eternity.
I believe that my grandmother and grandfather loved each other so much that they did not want to wait one more day to be sealed together. — Ron and Dawn Rutowski , Nauvoo 3rd Ward, Nauvoo Illinois Stake; workers in the Nauvoo Illinois Temple.
