Faith & Family Ties
June 1, 2025
“In God’s plan the family is in many ways the first school of how to be human.” –Pope John Paul II
It’s your friendly neighborhood Children’s Faith Formation Coordinator here with a reflection for today’s Jubilee of Families, Children, Grandparents, and the Elderly. When I first heard about all these ages and stages being celebrated in one weekend, I thought it was a bit odd. This encompasses quite a range! But as I began to reflect, it made sense. It’s a very long way to say it’s a celebration of families and the ties that bind families together throughout the generations.
In addition to me and my parents, my immediate family also includes my brother, who is five years younger than me. I come from quite an extended family though. My mom is one of 9 from Grand Rapids and my dad is one of 5 from Toledo. Growing up, I lived all over Michigan, with stints in Wisconsin and Maine, so seeing grandparents and family was a trip for the holidays. We’d pile in the car and drive for hours (without electronic devices!) to our grandparents’ house, packed in the backseat with books to read, color, and work. We’d look out the windows and watch the world go by, something that seems so strange to my kids now. The alphabet game was a favorite. On longer trips, we’d look for license plates from all the states. And there were always tons of snacks. My mom made sure we were prepared because we only stopped for gas and meals. We spent many hours traveling in the car, but I remember those trips fondly. It was family time, both the destination and the journey.
I remember going to my Grandma & Grandpa Jockett’s house in Toledo. They lived in Point Place, a little peninsula which included Michigan’s “Lost Peninsula” at the very end. Our family owned a marina there, and every trip would consist of visiting the docks and looking at all the boats. My grandparents and my dad’s whole family grew up fishing. They lived a few blocks from Lake Erie, so we always had fish (and Fig Newtons – my grandma always had some on the counter; I think of her every time I see them). My grandpa, Richard “Larry” Jockett, had a heart attack and died when I was in middle school. My grandma, Vella Mae Heipel Jockett had a stroke shortly afterward. She lived in a nursing home in Toledo until she passed away in 2008. I visited her many times as an adult, and it was even the first stop John and I made on our honeymoon. I wish I had visited her more. I can still hear her voice, though, and it always makes me smile.
Our other frequent road trip was to Grand Rapids to see my Grandma & Grandpa Tarchinski, my mom’s parents. They lived in a beautiful neighborhood on the northwest side of town with a park down the road and around the corner. It was one of those old parks with metal structures (it even had a chain bridge—the coolest!). The park is still there, but it has since been upgraded with safer, plastic structures. I remember sleeping in the living room at my grandparents’ house where they always had a huge grandfather clock. Every hour it would chime. All. Night. Long. In the basement they had an old pool table on which my uncle, still living at home, would spend hours building Lego. He’s now an engineer. Godzilla was always in the garage that would RAWR when you walked by, and a beautiful statue of Mary was always in the front yard. My grandparents eventually moved to a senior home, and their Mary statue is now in our garage awaiting a new paint job. I hope to have her in the yard this summer. My grandmother, Mary Alice Sedlecky Tarchinski, passed away two days after Easter back in April at the age of 94. My grandpa, Richard Emery Tarchinski is 95 and living his remaining days in the nursing home suite he shared with Grandma. They were together for 75 years and he, understandably, is having a hard time without her.
“I have affirmed that the alliance between the generations, or rather between the elderly and children, is what can save humanity, since in this way personal and family identity is conserved; one does not inherit only a genetic heritage or a surname, but also and above all one inherits the wisdom of what it means to be human, according to God’s plan. The mystery of our redemption is therefore intimately linked also to the experience of love lived in families. And let us not forget that in the final analysis, faith is always transmitted in dialect through families, through the elderly, grandparents.” –Pope Francis
My grandparents were/are wonderful people, flaws and all. They were an important part of my life both as a child and an adult, and we wanted to carry that on to our kids. Elizabeth Margaret Mae gets her name from my Grandma Vella Mae Jockett (I found out I was pregnant when we came home from her funeral), John’s Grandma Elizabeth Heffron Graveline, and John’s mother, Regina Margaret Christe Graveline (Elizabeth was baptized within a few days of the 10th anniversary of her death). Benjamin Richard gets his name from my grandfathers, Richard Emery Tarchinski and Richard “Larry” Jockett. Matthew Lawrence gets his name from his dad, John Lawrence Graveline, whose name came from his grandfathers, John E. Graveline and Lawrence Joseph Christe. Andrew David’s name has no family influence, although we do have Andrews and/or Davids on both sides. We’ve honored our families’ history through our children’s names. To give thanks to God for the gift of our children, our parents, and our grandparents is a wonderful way to celebrate today’s Jubilee of Families, Children, Grandparents, and the Elderly!