The Passing of my Grandfather

"The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places;

yea, I have a goodly heritage."

Psalm 16:6

I was honored to have been blessed with a very wonderful grandfather. When I think about what he has done for our family and our nation, I realize that there aren't a lot of men like him. When he was in his mid-30's he and my grandmother adopted my dad. All his other children were already school-aged and then they took in this little toddler and raised and loved him like one of their own.

The things I loved most about my grandpa:
- When I would hug and kiss him goodbye, sometimes his hearing aid would whistle "at me". His eyebrows would always fly up and he'd grin at me.
- Everytime I would leave he would say "Come back and see me anytime"
- He always whistled under his breath
- He always loved a good laugh, a joke, or a funny story and no one could laugh quite like him


Below are some portions of his obituary (names and places omitted in some spots):

Raynard Leroy, 88, passed away on Saturday morning, November 10th, 2007. He was surrounded by family as he entered into glory.

Raynard was born May 5, 1919. His mother died when he was young boy forcing him to live with various families. By the time he was out of the 5th grade his schooling days were over and he did what he could to make a living.

He met his beautiful sweetheart, Nona . . . She must have been impressed because they were united in marriage on January 17, 1941 and spent more than 66 happy years together. They were blessed with four children who were all raised in [town name].

R.L., as he was known by some, served honorably as an army sergeant in the Asian-Pacific Theater during WWII receiving various decorations including the Bronze Star. He spent most of his working years doing heavy equipment operation and maintenance. Besides working for the [County name] Road Department, he spent many years working and partnering with [company name].

In his free time, he loved to fish and hunt. The fall and early winters were always a time for hunting pheasant and quail. He enjoyed boating and water skiing and could always impress his kids with his slalom skiing or plowing through the water on his homemade plywood disk.

After his retirement to [state name], church life became important to him and he made many friends in the [town] area.

Three brothers . . . preceded Raynard in death. He was also grieved by the early passing of his daughter-in-law . . . He is survived by his loving wife Nona . . . . All of his children also survive.

He was blessed with 14 grandchildren, 16 great grandchildren, and 5 great-great grandchildren.