Obituary for Jennifer Sharron Hillelson (Walker)

Hi, my name is Codie. I am the granddaughter of Jennifer Sharron Hillelson (Walker). Grandma unfortunately passed away peacefully in her sleep within her home in Ankeny, IA on April 1st, 2024. It breaks my heart as to how many times I have had to say that sentence this past week while choking back tears. She had just celebrated her 79th birthday, she would have called it her “last hoorah” as she always had the best humor. Grandma and I, more recently, had many talked about her wishes for the day she wasn’t here anymore. She told me, “Don’t you go writing an obituary for me when I go because I don’t want you to have to go through that.”. Therefore, sitting down and writing this, I know she wouldn’t have wanted to have a normal obituary. She would have wanted to have something untraditional and funny, funny just like she was. Hence, why out of 365 days of the year, she chose to pass away on April Fools day, of all days. So here goes nothing and hopefully she will forgive me for writing this after I told her I wouldn’t.

Grandma was born and raised in Denver, Colorado. From a very young age she saw the good in everyone she met and always went out of her way to help others. She would give the shirt off of her back to someone in need. That’s why she chose to enter into the world of healthcare as she grew up. She loved what she did, and it made her happy. She received her license as a Medical Assistant and also went on to receive her license as a Registered Nurse. She was good at caring for others as she was kind, caring, gentle, loving, compassionate, hardheaded, and ever so patient. She definitely had to have patience as went on to have three outgoing, spunky, and ever so onery children, Gary, Elizabeth, and Christine. Then later on, welcoming the birth of her only grandchild, me. She also had an older brother who she was very close to, Robert Walker, AKA Bob-Bobcat-Bobaroony, who she often said that she considered him as one of her children. Those are very few of the nickname’s grandma would call Bob. I won’t name the others as she would definitely yell at me if I did. I can hear it now just thinking about it, “OH, CODIE RAE!”. Don’t let grandma fool you though, she was always a little firecracker and that’s what I will always remember her by.

In my teen years, it was always grandma, Bob, dad (Gary), and me. Although it was far too soon for me, I know when grandma passed, she was welcomed with open and loving arms by her brother-Bobaroony, son-Gary, daughters-Elizabeth and Christine, and her mom-who we called grandma Happy. My promise to her is that I will carry on her legacy of helping others, following in her footsteps within the healthcare field that I’ve currently been in for 10 years now. I promise her that I will continue to laughing uncontrollably at even the silliest of things, loving unconditionally, and of course I will carry on her spicy, firecracker and ornery attitude. She was loved by so many, and I hope that I can continue to make her proud until I’m able to see her again. I know she will continue to watch over me and everyone she loved and cared for. She used to always tell me, “P. S. I love you.” So, here’s to you grandma.

P. S. I love you.