a wonderful life

This past Tuesday, Oct. 13, my grandpa would have been 86.
I wanted to get some things recorded so that I'll have them somewhere to remember forever.

Some of these things I knew.
Some I learned for the first time at his funeral.
Many of these words I am using straight from or edited from what was read at his funeral.

I know most every one of you reading my blog didn't know my grandpa. But there's a part of me that just wants you to know a little bit MORE about him. So this is my way of sharing. Of not letting his story be forgotten. And to allow his life to CONTINUE to touch others. And if anything, to get this recorded in our family "blog" book for my kids to always be able to look back and read.

Grandpa served in the Navy, and was there at Omaha Beach on "D-Day", "Waving his flags" as grandma said. Grandma was presented with a flag at his burial "on behalf of the President of the United States and the United States Navy..." (talk about TEARS as we heard this being said to her)

Grandpa wanted to follow in his father's footsteps as a Methodist preacher...so he attended Southwestern College in Winfield, and served a church near Winfield...but the work didn't suit him.

So he ran a dry cleaning business in Independence for many years, then worked for Automotive Controls until retiring in 1988. I still remember his retirement party...he got a new bike with dollar bills stuck all over in the spokes.

He met my grandma in 1948...here's their story...

Homer was in Michigan
working with Camp Farthest Out.
He attended an ecumenical service at a Baptist Church
in Benton Harbor
led by the minister who directed Camp Farthest Out.
Dorothy attended that same service......
two Methodists at a Baptist Church,
two young people in a congregation of older adults.
They spied each other across the room,
made their way toward each other and talked a bit that evening,
and then spent the summer dating.

In September, Homer returned to Independence,
but he and Dorothy corresponded....
and made plans to meet again at a retreat in Chicago.
It was there, at the Methodist Temple,
that Homer proposed to Dorothy.

She came to Independence in the spring,
bringing with her permission from her mother to marry.

They were married on Mother's Day in 1949 in the same sanctuary we were sitting in for his funeral.

Their first child, born in Florida, died at 16 months old of neuroblastoma.
They had my uncle David and then my mom.

They loved to travel...as a family, and then as a couple.
They traveled all over the US, Canada and Mexico.
They traveled several times to Europe...
and saw Austria and Switzerland
and France and England and Italy....
And in 1993, sailed home on the Queen Elizabeth II.

(This was Grandpa's last trip ever, as he and Grandma flew to California for my sister's wedding in 2007. The day we had planned to head into San Francisco, Grandpa wanted to come along...he kept right up with all us "younger" ones and ordered a full order of ribs at Joe's Crab Shack...we were sure Grandma would not have been happy...he finished every last one of them.)

My grandpa was a leader in the Kiwanis Club and had 40 years of perfect attendance.

He sang in the choir at church, drove the van for many activities, he helped distribute government commodities, he sorted and packed gifts for a Round-Up for Hunger, and he showed up to church to help with many, many more projects and events.

Grandpa participate in 25 mission trips, until the age of 80, when Grandma told him he couldn't go on another one.

He helped with clean-up following floods
at Baxter Springs, Riverton and Augusta.
He worked following tornados
in Haysville, Parsons and Howard.
He helped construct the Grenola church building.
He re-roofed cabins at Mount Sequoyah.
He traveled to Alaska,
to Mexico (at least three times),
to Haiti and to Costa Rica,
and left on his 77th birthday
to help build a hospital in Kenya, Africa.

On a trip to Juarez, Mexico, he wanted to share with the others on the trip his sense of both purpose and blessing in being part of a mission team. He couldn’t sleep, and in the middle of the night, couldn’t find a proper piece of paper, so he wrote a note to the others on toilet tissue,
in which a man handed to my grandma at the funeral.

He wrote, in part,
“I can’t tell you all in person why I am here.
I am too emotional.
I’ll probably shed tears while (writing) this.

“It pleases me greatly to do this.
In a sense I’ve been a missionary in our church.
I told Dorothy I wasn’t meant to be a minister,
but now that I’m retired I can do this for my Lord.
I love it dearly.....
I love you all as Christian brothers
and I hope I have done my little part
making this a successful mission journey.”

On the day of his funeral, we sat in the same sanctuary that had been his place of work and worship, from which he had been sent out....twenty-five times, and to which he returned to tell his story. As we remembered him that day, and all the ways he served faithfully...we were informed that on that day, commodities were being distributed from that building, and a team was traveling to fix supper for the hungry in Pittsburg...

Grandpa would have had a busy day.

Grandpa found joy in his work, joy in his service, joy in the mission trips and joy in vacuuming the floors as the custodian at the church. He never EVER complained.

Although he never became a pastor like his father, he preached well in his own way...he was a witness to God’s love and God’s way.

My aunt mentioned at the funeral that there is a perfect song for my grandpa's life. It's a song I remember singing and hearing many times growing up in church. We just KNOW there will be people in heaven, if they aren't there now, who are there because of my grandpa's work and service....people that will try to run and find him and say "Thank you!"

I hope you'll take time to watch this video/song....Ray Boltz's "Thank You"


“Well done, you good and faithful servant!.... Come and share my happiness.” Matthew 25:21