Who was Grumpy? What can you say about the man?
Grumpy is not an easy person to describe. But you can certainly say
a lot of things about him. One thing is for sure, he loved his
grandchildren very much. All 9 of them. And they loved him
back. The best thing to do is let the grandchildren do the talking
about their Grumpy.
Grandchild #2 (5th grader at the time) wrote the
following for Grumpy right after he passed away in December 2003.
This was read as part of his eulogy at his funeral:
Dear Grumpy,
I will miss you a whole lot.
Even though you will be much happier and safe; and now you are in a better
place.
Of all the pain you’ve been
in, you smiled through it all. Now you can run, swim, and even walk.
You were a wonderful person
and many people will miss you. I will miss you so much that I can’t even
begin to tell you. Your stories made me laugh. And you used to scare me
when we would play the game Goosebumps. I had so much fun when you would
take me miniature golfing and then secretly get ice cream before we even
had lunch.
I loved you most because you
were the best listener that I know. You would ask me all sorts of
questions about my day at theater camp, or baseball, or school. You made
me feel like the most important person in the world. Like I said before,
you were a wonderful person.
I know that you are always
in my heart.
I love you Grumpy and I will
miss you.
Here is a piece written by Grandchild #6. She wrote
this piece for school and it was submitted to the local library for an
essay contest. Grandchild #6 won first prize for Second Graders:
MY “GRUMPY”
This story is
about my grandfather who died last December.
My Grumpy
had two strokes and the second one killed him. Mrs. Cohen and Mrs. Levine
and Mrs. Graham came to his funeral. Then our friend Steven came and we
played “Kiss the bus” when we were going to the grave yard. Then we went
home and we went to my Nana’s house and we talked about him. The Rabbi
came to talk about him and to say some prayers for him so that he would be
safe and happy up in heaven. Then Mrs. Surabian and Mrs. Coleman came and
some teachers brought us food so that we didn’t have to cook so we could
talk about Grumpy. I cry for my Grumpy every night and miss him so much.
My mommy says that he is in a better place and he can talk and run and eat
all of the foods that he used to before he had his stroke. I wrote about
my Grumpy because it’s family history month and my Grumpy was and is a
nice person and in my family. We used to play golf with him when he didn’t
have a stroke. I love my Grumpy.