The following is the eulogy given by Charity’s maternal grandfather at the prayer service on January 21st, 1998:

Good evening. My name is George Ugland and I’m up here tonight on behalf of my wife Donna, but we’re better known as Charity’s Grandpa and Grandma. I’ll try to keep it short because I’m sure that’s what she would have told me if she knew I was going to get up here. So I’ll do the very best I can.

It was a difficult day for all of us but I want to say a couple of things because I thought Charity would have wanted it that way. And when you are trying to think of something to say, I guess what I wanted to say was that when God created us He gave us each a heart. And that heart is not very large in size. But the ability to stuff it with love, tenderness and pride there is no limit.

I know you folks have heard the phrase, “You have a very special place in my heart.” We have that very special place in our hearts for Charity. We always did and we always will. Her Grandma and I were always so happy when she came to visit. She brightened our lives, she made us laugh and gave us just another chance to tease her.

When she used to come Grandma used to take the opportunity to say, “Let’s go shopping.” Boy, it didn’t take her very long to get downstairs and put on whatever she wanted to put on and out the door they went. Grandpa stayed home but as soon as they’d return with whatever Grandma had found she’d be downstairs putting it on, prancing upstairs and doing her little moves to show me what she was wearing.

The next thing you would look up and she’d be sitting at the dining room table and because my wife, her Grandma, is in the cosmetic business you can about imagine what was going on. I don’t know how many lipsticks you girls have or available or how many nail polishes you have or skin creams or elbow creams or whatever it is, but whatever it was she had it. She tried it and I gave her a chance to tease me about some silly thing.

We’ll always cherish this very special place in our hearts and we’re going to miss her ever so dearly. I hope that each of you, in your pamphlet you have, had a chance to read the poem on the back page.(*) It’s very special to her and to Judy, her mother. We love you Charity.

(*)

It broke our hearts to lose you,
But you didn’t go alone,
A part of us went with you,
The day God took you home.

A million times we missed you,
A million times we cried,
If love could have saved you,
You never would have died.

To the grave we travel,
The flowers are placed with care,
No one knows the heart ache,
As we turn to leave you there.

If tears could build a stairway and
Heartaches could make a lane,
We would walk a path to heaven and
Bring you back again.

Author Unknown