(This post was originally written March 25, 2004 after the death of my grandfather. I wanted to add it over here so that I don’t lose it in the future.)
I know I haven’t put anything new up on the site in a while, and for the few (two, three maybe?) people that actually come to it, I apologize. My life just isn’t exciting enough to keep anybody informed on it.
This is one update that I really don’t want to do, but I felt I should put it up anyway. This morning about 12:30, my Grandpa Ginn died. No euphemism for it, no ‘passed away’ or ‘gone to rest’ or any of that stuff. He’s gone. Forever. Grandpa is the first of my immediate family to die, so this is a new experience for me. Grandma Pettigrew died when I was three, so I don’t remember much about her. Grandpa Ginn is a different story.
Now, the Christian part of me knows that he isn’t gone. He is home with God now, which is a very very good thing. Grandpa had some health problems the last couple of years and had been in the hospital for about a month now. He broke his hip a couple weeks ago, then had surgery on it about a week ago. They moved him back to the hospital in Caldwell (my hometown, in case you don’t know) Monday. It makes me very happy to know that he doesn’t have to worry about his hip, feeling weak, or any of the frailties that come with being over 90 years old.
There is another side of me that misses him already. Grandpa was someone that I have always greatly admired. You see, it was Grandpa that always showed me what it was like to be an entreprenuer. He never sat me down and told me about it, that just wasn’t his way. Some of my earliest memories of Grandpa were him driving around delivering propane gas to people. He had his route and he always delivered it on time. Grandpa farmed, owned a lumberyard, designed and built two houses that I know of along with all the outbuildings where my parents lived, and most importantly, he was the patriarch of a family which expanded quite a bit. Grandpa had three children, nine grandchildren, 21 great-grandchildren, and four great-great-grandchildren. Add spouses and stepchildren and that’s over 50 people in a house at the same time for holidays. You try cooking enough turkey for everyone.
Another thing that I will always remember about Grandpa are his trains. I remember setting them up in the basement of the house my parents live in now (Grandpa and the family built it in the 70s) and playing with them, amazed by it. Grandpa did love his trains. When Collette and I went to Disney World one year, they had a display set up of different trains at Epcot, and I insisted on filming some of it just to be able to show Grandpa when we went home.
Grandma and Grandpa had been married over 70 years. I can’t even begin to imagine what Grandma must be going through right now. She is such a fireball, but I know that a lot of that fire was for Grandpa. I’m not sure what she will do now. We’ve only been married for seven years, but I don’t even want to think about life without Collette. I couldn’t fathom what it might be like after being together 10 times longer.
Well, anyway, Grandpa’s gone. I will miss him. I know the rest of my family will too. This year will be Dad’s first harvest without Grandpa. Gary will build his next project and Grandpa won’t be there to talk about it. Carolyn will sell insurance and won’t carry any for Grandpa anymore. I don’t think most of the people that I talk to now even know what that is like. Life in a small town causes the threads of family to become so intertwined that everything involves the rest of the family. It makes life so much more worth living, but then it is that much harder when one of those threads goes away.
Don’t worry Grandpa. We’ll take care of Grandma. Christmas and Thanksgiving will be empty this year without your presence and the muttering of “Oh, God” from you. Anyone who has been around you knows exactly what I’m talking about. We love you so much. We’re jealous that you have gone home without us, happy that you are now healed, and sad that we won’t see you anymore. Say hello to Marvin and Euda. Save us a mansion close to yours. We can’t wait to get there.
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