Grampa Lewis

As most of you know, Grampa Lewis passed away earlier this year. It was a sad time for everyone of course, but also a time for us as a family to pull together and comfort each other. Grampa was an amazing man. I do have a few pictures of him that I want to share with everyone, and I thought this might be the way to do it.

What follows is my speech at his funeral, in representing the grandchildren, I've added it for those who are interested.

"I was asked to speak about Grandpa, as one of his grandchildren. To somehow express just how much he meant to us, how wonderful he was and how his memories will stay with us forever. But I found myself hesitant to stop and think about him or to try to write something done, because then his passing would be more real, more certain.

I do not want to be presumptuous and speak in generalities for all of us grandchildren. Grandpa had enough love in his heart, to have a loving and unique relationship with each of his grandchildren. It’s a little strange to put us in a group of “the grandchildren” because he loved us as the individual people we are.

Grandpa was definitely a grandpa. He always had a hug and a smile. He liked to make us laugh. He was a huge tease sometimes, but only for the fun of it. He was the kind of grandpa all kids should have, the kind that could grow a bushy white beard of Christmas and play Santa Clause. The kind that, as we grew up, would show interest in what interested us, in how our lives were developing, in our challenges and our joys.

I sat and thought of the old memories, the older ones involving the farm in High Prairie, riding with him on the lawn mower and riding on his great big St. Bernard dog. And I sat and thought of the newer memories, going to visit, spending Christmases and miscellaneous holidays. I could call anytime and say I was coming by and he would be happy to hear it, and I know it was the same whether we lived 20 hours or a few minutes away.

Grandpa was a loving and kind grandfather. One that we, the grandchildren, were blessed to have. It is very fitting that we are here to remember him, even to mourn him, because he will be greatly missed. He will be missed by those of us who had the privilege of knowing him and he will be remembered for those who will not.

Although we are all grieved by his passing, we hold on to a higher hope, that of seeing him again. As I see it, life, whether it’s one day long, or a hundred years, is very short. At the end, it’s simply a moment, simply memories. But eternity, that’s forever. Although we had the privilege of knowing him seemingly a short time on this earth, we will one day by united with him for an eternity of knowing him. I believe that that will be the greater part, the best part and something that I very much look forward to."

I ended this with a story, of how grampa and grandma chose to move to Edmonton to be close to us (including ourselves, and a few other family members who lived there as well.) This was very significant to us, becuase we were only in Canada for short periods of time and it had been 4 years since we'd last been to Canada. It just showed how important his family was to him, a family that he'd married into and taken the responsibility of fathering (and amazing feat in itself considering there were four kids at that time). He was an amazing man - not the kind that history is written about, but the kind that genuinely loves many and is loved in return.