‘Home Town’: Erin Napier Carries on Family Easter Tradition After Grandmother’s Death

Home Town star Erin Napier and her family marked their first Easter without her grandmother on Sunday. She carried on one of the traditions her grandmother started for the family by following her coconut cake recipe. Napier, 35, announced her grandmother’s death in May 2020, 19 years after her grandfather died.

“Last Easter she was still with us. This Easter, I’m picking up the coconut cake torch,” Napier wrote on Instagram Saturday. “So glad we found all her recipes so I could make the Book of Ouida. But man, I miss her.” She included a video, showing herself flipping through a personalized book she made with her grandmother’s recipes while Carole King’s “Where You Lead” played in the background. Later, Napier posted a photo of the finished cake on her Instagram Story. “Her icing was never runny,” she wrote. “It was fluffy. But it tastes the same, so…” She added upside-down and smiling emojis at the end.

Hundreds of the HGTV star’s fans shared their condolences and how they remember their own lost loved ones. “This is so wonderful and special,” one fan wrote. “Such a sweet keepsake and to pass down to your daughter,” another added. “Thanks, Erin I have recipes in my mom’s writing I should do that,” another shared.

Back on May 4, 2020, Napier shared old photos of her grandparents in their youth. “My sweet grandmother went to heaven today,” Napier wrote that day. “My grandfather passed in 2001, and for 19 years she lived without him. I’m so happy that he’s shouting ‘Here she comes!’ today, even if my heart is broken for us without her. My Mother Goose.” She also included a quote credited to the Rev. Luther F. Beecher.

On Sunday, Napier shared a photo of her and Ben Napier‘s daughter Helen at church. “Hallelujah, He is risen, He is risen indeed,” Napier wrote in the caption. As usual, the photo showed Helene from behind. The Napiers have a policy of not showing Helen’s face to protect her privacy and so she does not have to see negative comments on social media.

“We are the protectors of her image. Without Helen, our lives would be hollow and there would be nothing to share. She exists and we are proud of her,” Napier wrote on Instagram earlier this year. “But her likeness is ours to protect and decide when it’s okay to share, no one else’s. That’s our personal choice, and it’s not the same for everyone. We love and appreciate everyone who supports the show, but Helen doesn’t owe anyone anything.”