This is a copy of the winning essay in the 2023 Grandparents of the Year contest, written by Ella Viau.

My name is Ella Viau and this year, along with my siblings and cousins, we would like to nominate our Grandparents Betty and Cecil Martin. They both are pretty amazing people. They raised four kids and now have eight grandkids.

Whenever we need something, they are there. Need a shirt ironed, call grandma. Need your car or truck looked at, call grandpa. Want breakfast, show up at the Snack Bar and you will most likely find them there and get breakfast.

They always try to make all of our sporting events, and really anything that all of us kids are involved in they will be there.

My grandpa is a jokester and always has something goofy to say or some joke to play on us and my grandma is always ready to give us her honest opinion whether we want to hear it or not. We won’t get into the wooden spoon, but all of us (and that includes friends) can say we are wooden spoon survivors.

We have had numerous fun times together. They used to have a camp party for us and we would play games, eat lots of food and then have fireworks. We always went to Appleton right after Thanksgiving and we would see Santa and go Christmas shopping. Wherever we went, it was always a fun time.

One thing that is nice about having them so close is if I need to go somewhere after school before a game or practice, I can always go there. Grandpa usually is the one to pick me up and grandma will be home making cowboy dinner. It really is the best. But nothing tops my grandpa’s popcorn or grandma’s chocolate chip cookies.

These two have many titles which include a nurse, engineer, fire fighter, mom, sister, brother, aunt, uncle, but I think the best one is Grandma and Grandpa.