George & Katherine Emrich

Each year on January 28th I honour the memory of my maternal grandparents George & Katie’s wedding anniversary with my monthly donations in support of hospice care.

George was a security guard for General Motors and Katie was a waitress and homemaker. They lived in Chatham Ontario where my sister and I visited them each summer. They both loved to garden. Grandma would tend to the flower beds while Grandpa handled the lawn, the large vegetable garden, and the fruit trees.

They taught me a great deal about showing love through acts of service for others. A number of years after they both passed I became an employee of the Residential Hospice of Grey Bruce. I’ve since learned through working at hospice that each of their deaths was not in ideal conditions.

Now I work every day to help educate our community, break the stigma surrounding talking about death and dying, and ensuring others are able to access the end of life care they did not have.

– Rachel Taylor