My Grandpa just died

[Zor]

I have just gotten the news. My maternal grandfather, James Eugene (Jim) Dehod, has passed on. He was born in an Eastern European immigrant family back in the day when that would count against you in Canada (not to the same degree that being black would in the US or anything, but still), the youngest of eight kids. He was sick when he was a kid, but he pulled through. He started work in his teens, moving big slabs of stone at the quarreys as a crane operator, a job which paid well but he eventually got a clerical job as it gave him more opportunities. He served in the Royal Canadian Navy near the end of the war and was soon after married to Irene Tychowecky (whom he stayed happily wed to until she passed on nine years ago). They had two kids, Janice and Bruce (who passed away when I was about two). He got hired by Richardson Terminals (a grain company) and became a Vice President. Unlike many other executives at the company, he actually knew about the mechanics of the machinery, how to operate it and other such facts. He retired about the same time I was born. He was a kind man, a loving husband, father and grandfather. He was smart and could do things such as memorize the serial numbers of passing trains. He was pragmatic and reasonable and did not go in for the bigotry that others went for in the day. All in all a good man which made this world a better place through work and love.

Even so, he collapsed a few weeks ago due to an infection and has been in Saint Boniface hospital. He was given a choice: a lot of invasive surgery which would lengthen his life for another few years (including a six month long recovery) or do without it and have a slight chance of getting better with all his intestines. He chose the latter. For a little while it looked like he had beat the odds, but yesterday he went unconscious and a few minutes ago he passed on. I will miss him.

1926-2015

Zor

[The Romulan Republic]

I'm sorry for your loss. He sounds like a good man.

[Thanas]

I am so sorry.

[fnord]

That sucks. My condolences - like TRR said, he sounds like a good man.

[Borgholio]

My condolences, Zor. He sounded like a good man.

[Steve]

My condolences, Zor. He sounds like a fellow I'd have loved chatting with.

[Iroscato]

I'm very sorry for your loss Zor. But it looks like he had a rich and full life, and was loved by many. What more could anyone ask for?

[LaCroix]

My condolences.

[Broomstick]

My sympathies.

[orbitingpluto]

It sounds like he lived life well, so there may be comfort in that. My sympathies go out to your and your family.

[Edi]

My condolences.

[Flagg]

My sympathies, man.

[Simon_Jester]

I'm sorry to hear this; it sounds like your grandfather was a man who made good through very respectable means.

[DaZergRock54444]

My condolences sir, it sounds like he was a good man, and the world is lesser for it.

[Korvan]

Sorry to hear that Zor.

[Eleas]

My condolences. Losing a loved one is always hard.

[Channel72]

It sounds like he lived a long, fulfilling life.

I often think about the WW2 generation - how all of their lives and stories are preserved mostly in black & white photographs and in the memories of their children/grandchildren. Unlike our generation, who frivolously preserves like, everything digitally - the memories we have of our grandparents are made very special precisely because they're not necessarily plastered all over a thousand facebook walls, but instead exist only in a few cherished photo albums, and in our memories.

[Zor]

It sounds like he lived a long, fulfilling life.

I often think about the WW2 generation - how all of their lives and stories are preserved mostly in black & white photographs and in the memories of their children/grandchildren. Unlike our generation, who frivolously preserves like, everything digitally - the memories we have of our grandparents are made very special precisely because they're not necessarily plastered all over a thousand facebook walls, but instead exist only in a few cherished photo albums, and in our memories.

Then again they had compact film cameras. They could much more easily take snapshots of the world they lived in as compared to those who served during the US Civil War of the Franco Prussian war.

But thank you for your sympathies all the same.

Zor

[Sea Skimmer]

RIP to him. A good long life is the best you can ask for. Having watched my own grandfathers long decline until passing, I think he made the right choice for what that's worth. Good memories are how we live forever. Well, and giant stone monuments.

[The Romulan Republic]

More than that, our legacies live forever in the consequences of every action we undertake when we are alive. The work he did, the family he had... all of that will leave a subtle mark on the world for all time.

[Zor]

HMCS Swansea: the Frigate that he served in during WWII in the last six months of the war.

Zor

[Raw Shark]

My condolences. I never got to know my grandfathers very well for various reasons, so I never felt very bad when they died, but I wish I could've.