My grandfather, Frank. He was strong, quiet, and wise beyond measure. I was taught that the Holy Bible teaches us to live a Christian life. No man I have ever known embodied that principle like my grandfather. He was incredibly compassionate; and worked tirelessly to serve his God, his family, his country and his community. He didn't have an unkind bone in his body. He would have given a total stranger the last of anything he had if that person was in need. I can count on one hand the number of times I saw him angry. Sadly, they were all at me probably.
I became a Master Mason to honor his memory and what he stood for.
He had a razor sharp wit; and an amazing sense of humor. He could have passed for Fred Gwynnes twin brother; both in looks and voice. He was a pretty quiet fellow, but when that deep bass voice would start to talk, people listened. He could always come up with the perfect advice, that was always calming and reassuring, no matter the circumstance. He used to recite these little "sonnet sermons" as I called them, that were spot on, and I still recall all of them to this day. An engineer by trade, he was incredibly gifted with building and making things with his hands. He was a master carpenter, who also could work a loom and weave cloth. And he had an amazing green thumb. My entire family grew up on the bounty of his enormous, perfectly tended gardens. And he had a deep love and respect for nature; that I am blessed to have had passed down to me.
He embodies in me the spirit that family comes first, no matter what else.
If I could live ten lifetimes to perfect in myself the type of man that he was, I would fall painfully short. He was an amazing person, and this Earth was made better because he lived on it. I try to live up to his example every day.
"When a task is once begun,
You leave it not until it's done.
And be a matter great or small,
You do it well or not at all."
"Remember this....If God made nearly every day perfect for us, without struggles, pains and difficulties, we couldn't handle it when we had a truly bad day. Sometimes we need to face adversity in order to learn how to become successful and appreciate the good in our lives."
"The person who will not stand for something will fall for anything."
"You cannot control every situation in life; but you can control how you respond to every situation."
"Every choice you make has a consequence."
"If you learn from every loss, then you were never really defeated at all."
"People can take away your possessions, your money, your family, and even your life; but they can never take away your education."
"Remember that half a loaf of bread is better than none at all. Sometimes if we ask for too much, we might wind up with nothing." (his usual end to his anti-union rant.
)
"If you love and put your family above all else, everything else in your life will immediately fall into place."
"People won't remember how much money you had, or how smart you were. But they will remember how kind you were."
" You can window dress and cover up a lot of things, but you can never mask pure evil. It will always reveal itself." (this was his usual end to his Nazi Germany rant.
)
I miss you Popaw!