A LIFE WELL-LIVED

This weekend our family got together to celebrate Jim’s dad Sonny, who lost his battle with leukemia this past May. He was 92 years old at the time, and passed from this world in the same room he had come into it in. Not many people get to say that! The party was his idea, & I think he would have been pleased.

Guests included friends & family, ranging in age from his sister Evelyn at 102 years old to his 4 year old great-great niece Mary. And traveling from homes as far south as Florida & north to New Hampshire & Vermont. Especially in this post-restriction era it was so wonderful to see everyone & catch up! We listened to & told lots of stories, ate tons of food, played some games, & ended the day with a fireworks show that would have made Grampy very happy.

People came to honor a hard working, unassuming guy, who never seemed to let the pressures of this lifestyle weigh him down. He was honest to a fault, and appreciated the simple things in life. This is my third attempt at writing this down & where I get stuck every time, because Grampy wasn’t a pinnacle of virtue, he was just a normal guy. I feel like I should include a list of life lessons he imparted, but that wasn’t him. He just put his head down & did what needed to be done. There was no job on the farm that was beneath him & that’s something his employees over the years really appreciated & told us. He liked his routine, chores, breakfast & a nap, back to work… and almost every day would include (at least if he could make it work) time in the woods with his chainsaw or tractor. The woods here on the farm were his happy place. He loved his firewood & the comfort it gave him burning in the woodstove, saving him from buying oil. Frugality & self-reliance were definitely traits that came from being born into the Great Depression. That said, as he grew older he did begin to enjoy other things. He traveled the world with his sister & niece, which seemed so out of character for this simple farmer. He embraced technology (sort of), loving the convenience of Amazon on his iPhone, telling his Roomba where to go, & even trading stocks on his phone. I never saw him as an affectionate man, but he always took care of his family without a lot of fanfare. He became a father figure for his younger sister, helping her through nursing school & on to marriage. He was devoted to his 5 grandsons, & immensely proud of the men they are becoming.

All in all, I think his life is one we can all aspire to. He lived on his terms, but tried not to ruffle any feathers or make any waves. He was always interested in what other people had going on, but at the same time was content to stay in his own space. No headline making contributions, but a positive influence on those around him, making them better people by his example. Rest well, Grampy, we love you!