In Loving Memory

Gram, Jesse, and Josiah — October 2006

Jesse returned last week to Warren, PA. That's the town where he grew up...where his dad grew up...and where his grandmother called home for much of her life. Lila Beryl (Yankie) Casler passed away on January 5th, 2010 at the age of 96.

Gram was a wonderful woman. She loved life and was always ready to laugh, wearing many different hats through the years. For instance, nearly seven decades ago she worked in a small hotel in Kansas. She lost that job because she started seeing one of the long-term tenants who had offices in the building (how improper!). A while after marrying that tenant, Dr. Gerald W. Casler ("Doc"), they moved to Warren, where Gram joined and remained an active member of the First Church of the Nazarene, working with teens and serving on missions councils. They lived briefly in Pomona, CA during World War II where she became one of the famous "Rosie the Riveters" working in an aircraft plant. Then back in Pennsylvania, she was employed by Montgomery Wards and Gimbals Department Store. In her older years, Jesse remembers her best as his frequent childhood babysitter, picturing Gram wearing her apron at work in the kitchen.

In the midst of these many roles through the years, Gram was a steadfast model of Christian love and charity, and her example is still influencing her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and countless others. As a church member recalled last week, she never had a negative thing to say about anyone — not a bad way to be remembered, in our book.

She will be missed.

Click below to play a pictorial slide show that Jesse's sister, Lisa, put together for the funeral service. Make sure your sound is on.

Lila Casler slideshow from Jason Condon on Vimeo.