Elsa Axner Preston

i like my sister Sheila, found a safe and welcoming home at my Grandmother's in Oak Run. She provided that stable place that I could come to and be restored. She was unwavering in her acceptance and ❤ for me. She was such a proud and amazing woman.

She was a strong person very much loved.

My grandma was not a sweet little old lady. Elsa Preston was a diminutive soft spoken woman on the outside and many people merely looked at her small frame and saw her only as a "sweet little old lady". If you stopped a moment to chat with her and remembered to listen more than you spoke, you would find that there was so much more to that small gray curly haired woman in red. My grandma was the strongest person I knew with such integrity and unwavering faith. She had strong faith and strong opinions that she was never afraid to share. Elsa had a soothing calmness about her. She loved me and accepted me my whole life. She would always gently point out the truth and the right way to live, but when I would stray, as people invariably do, she would give grace and love and patience.
When I was a teenager struggling in a new town and school after my parent's divorce, my grandma found a church for me in Redding and she would pick me up every Sunday and take me to church. She would always take me to breakfast, usually McDonalds, and we would spend a lovely morning together, except when we didn't. In the typical teenage way, sometimes I would sleep in or maybe I had stayed out much too late the night before. Sometimes she would knock on the door to get me and I would not go. Of course, she was disappointed and would go to church without me, but the next Sunday there she would be all dressed up and ready to take me to church and an egg McMuffin. It was a 45 mile round trip to take me to church and back from her home in Oak Run. Grandma was my rock of stability during many unstable times. She would listen when I needed to talk, she would hug me when I cried, she would give good advice when I was ready to hear it, but most of all, she would give me grace.
So whether you knew Elsa Preston as friend, neighbor, coffee drinker, an expert gardener, daring tree climber, Sunday school teacher, church elder, local historian, store keeper, Post Office landlord, fisherman, animal and nature lover, grandma, great grandma or even great-great grandma, you probably know she was so much more than just a sweet little old lady. I love you, grandma and I look forward to the day I get to see you again as you greet me in heaven. I know you will show me all the best spots.