Remembering Grandpa

I'm honored to tell you all about Kevin's Grandpa Carl today.

 

Kevin's Grandpa passed away at the beginning of the month.  We attended his visitation and funeral and miss him so much.  The whole family got to visit him in the nursing home during his final weeks where he was happy to have visitors.  He made jokes, smiled, said we had a great family and encouraged us to keep him in our prayers and go to church.  He lived a good, long life and the kids thought it was so cool that he was in his 90s.  They always joked that they couldn't wait to throw him a 100th birthday party.  Grandpa Askins is what the kids called him even though he was their Great Grandpa.  He never missed a birthday party or a family celebration.  

He was always a joyful face in the crowd when we got together to celebrate with family.  He was curious about everything and interested in everyone.  You considered yourself lucky to get seated next to Grandpa at dinner.  He always asked us questions and wanted to know what was going on in our lives.  He loved to tell stories about his own experiences, too.  Grandpa was a chatty guy!

Most of Kevin's childhood adventure stories included Grandpa.  He taught Kevin to love books, sardines, adventures and exploring.  He was such an interesting man.  People would consult him on everything from opossums, planting a garden, good books, history, current events, good food, getting the best deal and road trip adventures.  He and his wife Sharon had been on many adventures out west and to many of the same national parks that we visited when we lived out west.  Carl always had a smile on his face and everyone enjoyed chatting with him.  He was very involved in his church and talked about God often.  We are so thankful to have had Carl in our family for so man years.

I went through all my photo archives to find some of my favorite pictures of Grandpa Askins.

The kids loved him as much as we did.  Leo was often guilty of stealing his cane and Grandpa never minded one bit.  We miss him tons and our family gatherings are a little quieter without him.  We send big hugs to his wife Sharon and are so thankful for her.  The kids love them both.

 

We were all lucky to be loved by Carl.