Late Friday night the Lord finally called Grandpa VG home. He had been moved to hospice care earlier in the week so when Lisa and I saw Dad had called both of us at 7 a.m. on Saturday morning, we knew exactly what had happened before either one of us had answered. I've been blessed to have experienced so little of death in my 32 years so far. Compared to the suddenness of Grandma M's death and the awful inevitability of Uncle Doug's death, this one is significantly less sad. Grandpa had been fighting a losing battle with dementia for several years now and every time you went to visit him, you saw that he was a little less himself.
Honestly, after Grandma M passed away during my freshman year of college, I expected this phone call at many points from Mom and Dad ever since then. I would occasionally see that I had a voicemail from Mom and just thought, "Please let it not be Grandpa or Grandma. I couldn't handle that right now." As the years passed though and Grandpa's condition deteriorated, I started to hope for his passing a little more because you could see how much he struggled and how ready he was to meet his maker and hear, "Well done, good and faithful servant." Now, I celebrate in Grandpa's eternal joy even as I fight back a few tears about the finality of it all.
Grandpa certainly left a legacy. Obviously, his influence first lives on in his eight children, 33 grand-children and scads of present/eventual great-grand-children. The love and dedication he showed to Grandma was absolutely inspiring, even if it was fun in their later years to watch Grandma start to stand up to him and put him in his place. He did tremendous work for the church and followed God's call all over the earth. His academic influence thrives on in our extended family as their are advanced degrees all over the place. I am proud to bear his name and look forward to passing it on to my own son.
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