Ten Years!

It is hard to believe it has been ten years today since our Grandpa M. passed away! There are SO many things I miss about him! The thing that makes me the most sad is that my children never had the chance to meet him. We talk about him often, so they know who he is. We know he is smiling down on us (probably from the back of a horse!) We love you and miss you so much Grandpa!!!! Until we meet again . . . .

"Our Dad"
By: Nana (This was read at his funeral by my cousin Jamie) :-)

Our Dad was one of the last of the cowboys. He loved Quarter Horses, Hereford cattle, and Fords. Two of his favorite horses were Beauty and a palomino named Topper. As children we enjoyed the stories about Beauty. She was the horse that you couldn’t fall asleep on if you were fox hunting. She would put you behind the saddle and you would have to hang on for dear life as she bolted ahead when a fox leaped from its den. She was also the horse that could run all day and still be ornery enough to turn around to kick you at day’s end when you unsaddled her. Dad gave the last of her bloodline to his granddaughter, Mistie, so their spirit lives on. Dad loved going to horse sales and entertained us with his horse-trading stories. One particular story comes to mind when we recall Dad harnessing a “well-broke” team to the stone boat only to see him racing around and around the pasture on a full-blast run. As it turned out, the horses had been tranquilized to behave in the ring, and when the reins hit the next morning and the drug had worn off, the true story unfolded.

He loved raising pheasants, Canadian Geese, and buffalo. Our childhood memories are filled with German Shepard puppies, chickens that laid colored eggs, and baby lambs. And who could forget the famous line, “a sick sheep is a dead sheep.” Yes, we grew to love cattle because who could love an animal as dumb as a sheep. And Dad’s favorite sheep joke was about a teacher asking the question, “Students, if you have four sheep and one sheep crawls through the fence, how many do you have left?” Little Johnny answers, “Zero!” The teacher says, “Johnny, you are wrong, the answer is three,” and Johnny replies, “Lady, you don’t know nothing about sheep, if one sheep gets out, they all get out.”

Dad’s favorite time of the year was spring and summer. Calving brought great joy to Dad as he loaded us in the Ford pickup to tour the pasture and check out the baby calves or colts. Each Sunday was spent attending church and then we were off for the “Hills” to inspect his beloved polled Hereford cattle. We each had our favorite calf and Dad happily searched the entire pasture until we found ours. Dad was a man of few words. Some of his famous one-liners were: “I don’t need it in writing, a man’s word should be good enough.” “Are you up for all day?” “How’s my girl?” “Do it right the first time and you won’t have to do it over.” “Do you want to race, or are you afraid this Ford will beat you?”and “You could drive the wheels off a Cadillac and not find a girl as nice as her.”—referring to Rodney’s wife, Cindy, of course.

Dad was a great father. He was patient and kind. The only time he ever lost his temper was when he was sorting or chasing cows. He was a mentor. You learned by his example because he was not afraid to tackle any task. He was exceptionally proud of his grandchildren, Heidi, Jamie, Mistie, Jill, and Tami Jo and his great-granddaughter, Addi. He loved to watch Addi walk on her toes. He walked the road of honesty, hard-work, and pride in a job well-done. Dad, we will miss you dearly, but if God needed one more cowboy in Heaven, then we guess you’re the perfect one!