At first glance you would see a tall lanky man. Just an average looking man who probably lived a normal uneventful life.
He was born in a small town outside of Greenwood, Arkansas. His father was a farmer and at a young age he decided that was not the life for him. At age 17 he joined the Army and began a new adventure his in life. He traveled all over the world. Being stationed all oveer the U.S. he was sent over to Germany. While thier he met my Grandmother Irene Gunther, who was a beautiful german girl. They met during a phone conversation. One of my grandmothers friends had met a soldier stationed at the base. My grandfather was the officer on patrol one night. My grandmother called the base to see if they would be allowed on to see the other soldier and thats where they met. 2 weeks later they were married.
My Granfather was more than just a regular soldier. After only 16 years in the service he achieved the rank of Command Sergeant Major, which is the highest rank an enlisted man can recieve in the army. He retired in 1977 with full honors.
Moving back to Arkansas he finally settled down to see his 7 grandkids born. One of his passions was Golf. I have never met anyone who knew more about golf than he did. He would watch it all day if he could. He also taught me how to play golf. I remember playing a round of golf with him one spring break. I was on the green of a tough hole. I had about a 20 foot shot to make. Grandpa told me to just relax, see the shot and use good form. I ended up making the putt and to this day is the best putt i have ever made. I miss playing golf with him.
In February of 2008 my grandmothers health began to decline. She had a minor heart attack but recovered. She was sick all the time and could barely get around. We had prepared ourselves for the worst. Then she made a really good recovery and was back to her normal self. April 8 2008 grandma past away. The day before she passed i called her and asked how she was feeling. She said that she had not felt this good in a long time. A few weeks after the funeral Grandpa traveled around to visit all of his kids and spent a week with each of them. When he came back he decided that he wanted to live out the rest of his days with my parents and not be alone.
He sold their house in Greenwood and moved in with mom and dad in their new house. It was great having him around. He was able to watch me get married which is something i always wanted was to have him there. It was great to have him closer and to be able to see him more. In Sept of 2009 he started to change a little. Not really acting like his normal self. We all knew something was wrong. A few weeks later we found out he had cancer. On November 5 2009 my dad called me as i was getting ready for work and told me he was gone. I felt like a part of my heart had been taken out of my chest. I kept alot of my emotions inside. I felt like i needed to be the one being strong for my family. Grandpa had told me that he needed me to be strong for everyone else when grandma passed away as everyone else was a wreck. Its hard to keep all of that emotion inside of you when you care so much for somone and now all of a sudden they are gone. I look back on everything he taught me, all the time we spent together and i see what a great man really is. I love and miss you Grandpa.
