"Grandma" Grace Greyeyes is gone.
She passed peacefully early Friday morning following a hard-fought battle with cancer.
A residential school survivor and revered Penticton Indian Band Elder, "Grandma" Grace, as she was known to her many, many friends throughout the Okanagan and beyond, rose above her brutal childhood experiences to become a beacon of hope and a primary knowledge-giver within the Indigenous community and a bridge-builder and iconic figurehead both in and out of it.
Grandma Grace was everywhere. If there was an event or a function or a ceremony on one side of the river or the other, there was always a good chance she'd be there, giving her blessing or her prayer and most often doing what she arguably did best – radiating peace and making people feel comfortable.
In that way, she was an amazing leader without officially having the leader title.
A statement from the family read: "We're just so grateful how much love and support we've been shown through these times."
PentictonNow had the good fortune to watch and listen to Grandma Grace in numerous situations and environments over the past few years. And each time we were struck by her ability to cut through the BS, to get to what matters, and to do it in a way that left people smiling.
When she spoke at a ribbon-cutting ceremony in June of this year for a 2SLGBTQQIA+ crosswalk that had just freshly been vandalized, she used her words and her deportment to defuse justifiable tensions.
Out of nowhere, there was laughter. It felt like a magic trick. Real magic, not that David Copperfield stuff.
But she didn't belittle the damage done. She championed the oppressed, and before she gave up the microphone she made sure everyone knew where she stood on the issue.
And she was funny. Dry funny, like a good comedian.
We stopped by a fundraiser at the Outma Sqilx’w Cultural School on the PIB reserve in late July. The event was intended to raise bucks so Grandma Grace could take a "bucket list" trip before times got tougher.
Before we could even utter a word, she was once again playfully razzing us about our disheveled camera bag.
It was a running gag that lasted years. She remembered every time we saw her and even now, nearing the end, she was quick with the wisecracks and with that smile that lit up a room.
And once again we left Grandma Grace feeling happier, feeling calmer than when we'd arrived.
Even better, she eventually did manage to get away – a couple of times – before she passed. Once to Vancouver and once to an important powwow in Hawaii.
"She passed peacefully, it was her time," said a teary PIB social development manager Cricket Testawich, who identified herself as "one of the many that Grandma Grace has loved and adopted into her life."
Testawich is a super-fan.
"The impact she had on the Indigenous community and the nation and the world all around her was amazing," she said. "She was a nurse, she was a leader, she was so much more.
"Moving forward, we will carry the gifts she gave us."
A Celebration of Life is being planned. The announcemeent is due Saturday. The date and venue are yet to be determined.
'Til then, goodbye Grandma Grace. You will be missed.
