My Grandfather

One year ago today, my grandfather passed away after a brave battle with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. He was a truly amazing man and I miss him very much. He was the only grandfather that I have ever known. My dad's father died while my dad was in high school so I never had the privilege of knowing my Grandpa Shoemaker. After Grandpa Whitley passed away my cousin created this website (click above where it says "Link"). It includes a lot of the research the family did on the time my Grandpa served in WWII and the medals that he was awarded and some other history. They did a really good job.

My grandpa was a Christian man. He loved serving the church in anyway he could and he was a shining example to us all. He was always back in the foyer before church and after church greeting everyone. Making them feel so welcome. He knew no strangers.

My grandpa was a wheat farmer. Summers were the best times of my life. Riding the combine and the tractor. Playing in the back of the wheat truck. Eating fried chicken on a blanket in the middle of a freshly cut wheat field. I wish every child could be so lucky to have those kind of experiences.

My grandpa was fun. He used to put us kids up to things he knew would get us in trouble. Such as the time he gave my sister a little garden snake and told her to give it to grandma, knowing that my grandma was deathly afraid of snakes. Scared both her and my sister when she let out her blood curdling scream. Or the time he hit his head while working on a piece of machinery and when we asked him what happened he told us that grandma had hit him over the head with a frying pan. Of course all of us kids went to church and told everyone that grandma hit grandpa. He could take out all his teeth. I am not sure anything fascinated us kids more. It was his greatest parlor trick.

My grandfather was forgiving. It was a right of passage in the family to be able to drive the garden tractor. You made it into the big time when you were allowed to use the tractor to mow the pasture or take the cousins for joy rides. He had a little white shed where he kept his tools and parked the tractor. I was trying to pull the tractor into the shed and instead of parking it I hit the forward lever and drove into the wall of the shed and created this huge dent in the shed. I was so scared that I ran home and told mom. She made me go back up to grandpa's and tell him what I had done. He didn't get mad or scold me he just banged the wall back into place and welded a metal bar across the shed wall. To this day the bar is known as the Suzy Stop Bar.

I miss him everyday but I know that I am the person I am today because he was my grandfather.

I hope that you all have a wonderful and safe New Year's.