A eulogy for Grandma
A complete example for a grandmother, with a short version from a grandson, why it works, and the questions that help you write about your own nan or grandma.
Written as if by her granddaughter, Lucy. About 3 minutes read aloud · 367 words. Everyone in it is fictional, written for this page.
Thank you for being here. I'm Lucy, and I'm one of Irene's eleven grandchildren, which she would want me to point out is a respectable number. To us she was Nan, and I don't think any of us ever called her anything else.
Nan was born in Cork and came to Birmingham at nineteen with one suitcase and the address of a cousin. She got a job at the chocolate factory, which explains a great deal about her biscuit tin, and she met Grandad at a dance hall on the Hagley Road.
She raised five children in a three-bedroom house, and every one of them will tell you they never felt short of anything. My mum says she does not know how Nan did it. Nan said she did it by not asking anyone's opinion.
My earliest memories are of her house on a Sunday. The smell of a roast, the radio on too loud, and at least one cousin in trouble. She had a chair by the window that nobody else sat in, and a way of looking over her glasses that could stop a fight across the room.
She taught me to play cards when I was six, and she did not let me win, not once. When I finally beat her at gin rummy at fourteen, she shook my hand and said I had earned it. I have never been prouder of anything.
Nan went to Mass every Sunday until her knees stopped her, and then she watched it on the television in her good cardigan. Her faith was not something she talked about much. It was something she did, quietly, every week of her life.
She loved a bet on the Grand National, a phone call with her sister every evening at six, and any wedding at all, including those of people she had never met.
When we visited her in the home this year, she did not always remember our names, but she remembered the cards. We played until the very last visit. She still did not let me win.
Nan, thank you for the Sundays, the cards and the look over your glasses. We'll keep the biscuit tin full. Goodbye, Nan.
Write yours from your own memories
Answer a few gentle questions and we draft a eulogy from your answers only, to edit and then print in large type or as cue cards. Free.
Write a eulogy for your grandmaWhy this example works
1. It names what everyone called her
Nan, not Irene. Using the family name for her tells the room this is a grandchild speaking, and makes the eulogy sound like home.
2. A whole early life in two paragraphs
Most of the room only knew her old. Cork, one suitcase, the factory and the dance hall give the younger ones a life they never saw.
3. One story only the speaker could tell
The gin rummy is small and completely hers, which is why it lands. Every grandchild has a story like this.
4. Faith described, not preached
It says what she did, Mass every Sunday and then on the television, without quoting anything or telling the room what to believe.
5. Honest about the end
Her memory is mentioned kindly, and the story finishes on the one thing she kept, which is the cards.
A short eulogy for Grandma, from a grandson
If you only have a minute or two, or several people are speaking, a short eulogy can say just as much. About 0.5 minutes read aloud.
I'm Sean, one of Nan's eleven grandchildren. Nan came to Birmingham from Cork at nineteen with one suitcase, and built a family big enough to fill this room.
Sundays at her house meant a roast, the radio too loud and at least one of us in trouble. She taught all of us to play cards and never once let us win.
Nan, thank you for every Sunday. We'll keep the biscuit tin full. Goodbye.
Questions to start your own
Do not copy an example. Borrow its shape, and fill it with your own answers to these. One true, specific memory is worth more than any polished line.
- What did you call her, and did anyone else call her something different?
- Where did she come from, and how did she end up where she did?
- What did her house look, smell and sound like when you visited?
- What did she teach you, on purpose or by accident?
- What did she do every week, without fail?
The eulogy builder asks questions like these one screen at a time, and our guide covers how to read a eulogy without breaking down.
Common questions
- Should each grandchild give a eulogy?
- Usually one grandchild speaks for all of them, or two or three share a few minutes each. Ask the funeral director how long you have in total. Gathering one memory from every grandchild before you write lets you speak for everyone.
- What if my grandma had dementia at the end?
- Mention it gently, if at all, and then talk about who she was for most of her life. Many families find one small thing she kept hold of, a song, a game, a habit, and end with that.
