We will miss you, Grandpa

This past Saturday, Heaven gained a jokester. Josh’s grandpa went on to be with his Lord – he lived a very full and rich 92 years on this earth and left behind about 40 great grandchildren.

I want to share with you my first memory of meeting him. I grew to love Grandpa K – I admired his love for the Bible and talking about God. But I also never left him without laughing. He was always ornery, full of jokes and pranks.

When Josh and I first started dating, I was 19 years old and a sophomore in college.  After dating for about 6 months, he kept talking about his grandpa and he wanted to visit him. It was a 2.5 hour drive and I wanted to go with Josh to meet him too.  Josh kept regaling me with tales of his faith, his love for family, but he failed to mention his jokes!

I sat down in the living room with Grandpa K and he was smiling. I thought, “what a sweet person!” He thought, “I’m gonna get this naive little girl.”

He turned to Josh and said, “Now Josh, she ain’t neither cross-eyed or bow-legged.” Immediately I turned to Josh and slapped his arm, my mouth agape with disbelief.

“What did you tell him?” I asked in shock.

Josh started to laugh and Grandpa K’s face broke out in a huge grin, laughter rising from his belly as he slapped his knee.

“C’mon Grandpa, be nice to her,” Josh said. Then he told me about how he is always playing jokes and I shouldn’t believe a word he says.

My face blushed and I started to laugh, in spite of myself.

From that day on, every time I met him, he always reminded me of how he was glad I wasn’t actually bowlegged like Josh said I was.

He was a World War II vet, serving in the coast guard.  He was so loved and loved others.  I know he will be missed, but I also know that he lived an amazing and long life.  I will always tell stories about “Great Grandpa K” to my kids and I hope they grow up knowing the same faith that he knew and lived out every day.