My beloved paternal grandfather passed away in his sleep the early hours on September 29th. I found out yesterday at 8:15AM and am still trying to process the fact that he is gone.
He was the most wonderful and loving and fun grandfather ever. I think there was nothing he enjoyed more than his 11 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. This photo is of him and Mackenzie last year.
His obituary said he was a Master Electrician but he was so much more so I wanted to write down, mostly for myself, the rest of his profession. So please forgive the personal recollections.
My grandfather could fix anything--cars, houses, engines, you name it, including mashed potatoes and breakfast. He loved chocolate ice cream and telling funny stories and jokes. He didn't like pineapple so our family always tried to sneak pineapple in stuff just for fun and to have the grandkids sing-song say "you ate pineapple!" He taught me about the great outdoors, how to fish, how to read animal tracks in the dirt, how to shoot arrows and ride motorcycles. From him, I learned about gardening and composting and the joy of eating carrots straight out of the ground. He loved carpentry and woodworking and made furniture, cradles, dollhouses for all the granddaughters, wooden trains and tractors for the grandsons, dulcimers and beautiful stringed instruments, shelves for tea cups and knick-knacks, and picture frames. I spent most of my childhood Sundays and summer days at my grandparents with my cousins--running and playing outside all day and having root beer floats while watching TV in evening. I am the oldest grandchild and my whole life he always asked me if I would take care of him in his old age and I always assured him that I would. I think I was still waiting for him to get old because in my eyes he was always so full of life and there was so much more I wanted to ask him and talk to him about. Eighty-two years was not long enough and I was so looking forward to seeing him next month.
