Goodbye, Grandpa

My husband's grandfather passed away yesterday.  He was 96 years old.  He came close to losing his life quite a few times in his 96 years but miraculously made it through.  He was quite a fighter!  He loved life and loved trying new things.  He became very skilled in a lot of the things he did...oil painting, gardening, fishing, and much more.  He served in the Navy and the Marines.

Here's a photo of them at their 70th wedding anniversary celebration.  Grandma wanted so badly to make it to their 75th in September.  But, 74 is an incredible accomplishment and very rare. 

He fought as long as he possibly could but the last week was tough.  He was taken home from the hospital last Friday and put on hospice care.  They hired a 24 hour nurse to care for him.  That was wonderful!  He had many visitors in his last days....an example of what a great guy he was.

He had rough night on Monday and was scared and agitated.  Grandma climbed into his hospital bed that was in their living room and calmed him.  She stayed with him the entire night. Early yesterday morning, the nurse saw a sign that he was about to pass and woke grandma and her two daughters (my mother-in-law and my husband's aunt) who were staying with her.  They were by his side in his final moments.  I got there shortly after and more family had arrived.  Grandma sat for a couple of hours holding his hand.  It was so hard for her to let him go.  It's so sad to see how heartbroken grandma is but so beautiful to see how much they loved one another and how close they were.

We'll miss grandpa very much and will continue to cherish every moment we have with grandma.  She'll need extra doses of love, hugs, and support in the days ahead.  But, that won't be hard to do as she is one of the sweetest people you could ever meet!