Amy Duggar King recalls rainbow after grandma Mary's drowning: 'She's smiling down on us'

Charles Trepany

Mary Duggar may be gone, but her granddaughter will always love her.

Amy Duggar King, of the TLC reality show "19 Kids & Counting," opened up to People magazine about mourning her grandmother, who died of an accidental drowning in a swimming pool in June. She was 78.

Though the experience hasn't been easy, the 32-year-old said a symbol from nature brought beauty in the midst of the tragedy.

"When she passed away, the day that she did, there was a beautiful rainbow outside. And on the day of her funeral, which we actually call a celebration of life, there was this amazing, amazing rainbow outside," she said in a clip published Tuesday. "We all cried. Our whole family cried. It was just one of those beautiful moments."

She added: "She's smiling down on us."

Duggar King said she'll never forget the close relationship she had with her grandma.

"She, first off, meant the entire world to me. We were best friends. We spent every waking moment together. Not many grandkids can say that on a Friday night they'd rather hang with their grandma than go to the movies or something," she said in a different clip from the same interview. "She was just really, really special in my life, helped raise me."

Original story: 'Counting On' matriarch 'Grandma' Mary Duggar died of an accidental drowning after church

View this post on Instagram

Happy birthday to this gem!💎 I'm so thankful to be so close to her! She's so giving, so loving and such a Godly example in my life! She means so much to me!! If we are not together we talk on the phone about 2-3 times a day! And she drops in at the boutique almost daily! She has always been there for me. And I mean always. ❤ Today was a perfect day to just relax by the pool, grill out and spend quality time with my favorite person!!

A post shared by Amy King (@amyrachelleking) on May 26, 2019 at 4:16pm PDT

According to Duggar King, her grandma was especially excited to become a great-grandma.

"She knew I was pregnant. She was so excited for me to have that new chapter of my life that I'm just trying to obviously remember all the good memories and focus on the good because, yeah, I have breakdown moments," Duggar King said. "I obviously ball my eyes out. There's definitely some times that have been really really hard, and going forth it will still be that way too."

'19 Kids and Counting' star Anna Duggar shares new family photo with husband Josh

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Grandma Mary Duggar remembered by Amy Duggar King after drowning