Grandpa Ed (aka "Uncle Ed")

My Grandpa passed away last Thursday, the 4th of November. He was an amazing man and I want to share some of my memories and thoughts about him. I was "lucky" enough to speak at his funeral, so I will just share some of the stories I talked about then plus a few other tidbits that were shared about him from other talks. I don't think I have ever met a person who is as unique as my Grandpa Ed. First of all, he was always known as "Uncle Ed" when we were growing up because he always told us that he was "too young to be a grandpa." Christmas 2009 with Grandpa. You have to love the white shirt and tie sewn on to his Snuggie.
Grandpa in his younger years.
Grandpa with his siblings in his young young years.
His obituary picture.

Some memories I shared at his funeral: (Some come from cousins of mine as we had compiled a book last year of "Memories of Grandpa" for G & G for Christmas, so it was handy to pull some from there to share):

*My grandpa developed a lot of the land in Island Park, Idaho, and we have a family cabin there, so a lot of my early memories of him are from times there. He had a little office that we would stop by and he would keep a LARGE stash of Little Debbies, Hostess, Snack Packs, and Shastas. He was always good for a treat, or many treats. I still don't really like any of those brands to this day- maybe an overload as a child? He loved his trees outside our cabin and would sit for hours on a folding chair with a hose in his hand, content as can be to water his trees.

*The grandkids (all 54 of us, plus 37 greats) can each probably tell you a story that has to do with Grandpa and the grocery store. He loved grocery stores, somewhat for socializing, somewhat for finding good deals (particularly on the above mentioned brands or on candy bars, which he also had a huge stash of). We lived nearby my grandparents during my growing up years, and I remember him going to the grocery store quite often. He would always wear his wooden shoes out (he was part Dutch and served his mission in the Netherlands). I didn't realize until I was quite a bit older that wearing wooden shoes places was not normal. My cousin Ashley shared the following story in the Memory Book and I find it hilarious and very, very Grandpa: "When I was younger I remember going to the grocery store with Grandpa. As soon as we got into the store we headed straight to the dairy section where he selected a yogurt. He then produced a spoon from his shirt pocket and proceeded to eat the yogurt as we shopped."

" *Grandpa had "nicknames" for everyone, though I am sure he didn't call them that. I was "Yimberly" my sister "Yennifer", my aunt Angela "Yarmilla", etc. My Uncle Dirk's boys lived right next to my Grandma and Grandpa and this is what they put in the memory book: "Josh-Hyrum remembers every time we visited, grandpa would ask, "What's your name?" and "Why are YOU here?" even though he called several times a day to have his garbage taken out, his mail picked up or taken out, or his newspaper brought in, rides to the post office to mail letters to the Czech Republic or to missionaries, or rides to the store. When he called he would asks for "Jersey" for George, "Yes-u-a" for Josh, "Toe-MAS" or "Send the brain" for Thomas, "Pet-RA" for Peter, "HEB-UR" for Heber, "Joseph Strobel the fourth" for Joseph. "

*My Grandpa had awesome one-liners and advice. Some classics include "Out of an empty brain floweth forth nothing. Genesis 1:1 (This was on his funeral program) and "More wealth can be acquired through marriage than through a lifetime of hard work."

*My cousin Shawna wrote this for the book about a time he gave her advice "Once in college Icame to Grandma and Grandpa's house and I invited my roommate. Grandpa sat us down and gave us a much needed lecture on how to pick the perfect husband. First he told us that if a boy claimed to have a spiritual manifestation saying that they were supposed to marry us and we didn't have the same manifestation that we were not supposed to marry that guy because he was full of it. Two other good peices of advice which I was not very good at following were to look at the boy's dental record and to look at his wallet. All very sound advice."

*Once when I was in high school, my sister and our cousin Anneka and I went to visit Grandpa with our friend Haylee. After raving about her beauty for some time, he turned to us and said, "And you- well the three of you will have to hope that some man will fall in love with your brains!" (Glad to report that Devin loves my brains...)

*Grandpa was all about us being educated and cultured. The first time he met Jennifer's husband Chris, his first question was "How many languages do you speak?" Chris was able to report that he speaks One- English. Grandpa spoke something like 7 languages and was always trying to learn. He also loved newspapers and magazines and often sent us magazine clippings of things he thought we needed to know or thought we would be interested in. Jennifer once got one of an obituary of a woman murdered in California who shared her name. Interesting, yes?

*Family and the Gospel were of utmost importance to Grandpa. He gave us a "State of the Family Address" annually that could be quite lengthy, but was always full of wisdom and interesting things. Grandpa had so many stories to share from his own life and was the ultimate example of missionary work. He used to smuggle Church materials behind the Iron Curtain when none were allowed. He went annually with suitcases full and was never caught. My uncles who spoke at the funeral talked of a whole congregation of people that he converted on one such trip from one church (can't remember which) to ours as he bore his testimony to them. Even the minister was converted. My uncle asked him a few years ago how many people he had converted in his lifetime and the answer was in the hundreds. What can I say about that? I have work to do to be like him.

Grandpa had gone down hill a lot in the past few years and had been bed ridden for about a year. I know that he has happily reunited with his 3 sons, grandson, parents, and other family members on the other side. I have no doubt he will be one hard working missionary there as he was an incredible missionary here. I am so glad to have an Eternal perspective on death so that I know that his passing is not the end. In fact, I have felt so much more happiness for him than I have grief in this process because of the understanding that I have.