Grandpa's Tribute

It has been almost six weeks since my last post. I was actually doing pretty good for a while, and then life got turned upside down with the completely unexpected passing of my dear Grandpa Nelson. He was riding his bike in a mini-triathlon that he organized for his ward Scouts and hit a puddle of water--breaking his femur. He passed away 4 days later from complications from the surgery. He was very healthy and was doing what he loved the most (besides my Grandma!) --racing and Scouting at the same time. He is missed very VERY much.

What I will miss the most about Grandpa:

He loved my singing and called me "Songbird". I knew that I wanted to sing for him one last time before he passed away and so my little sis Katelyn and I went into his ICU room on Wednesday (the day before he passed away) and we sang some hymns for him. It was extremely difficult, knowing that it would be the last time he would hear me sing in this mortal existence. *okay, now I'm crying again!* But, I am so glad that I did it. I did sing at his funeral with my sisters and it was a very sweet experience too.

I will miss how how he was so sweet to my little Emily. He was always so delighted to see her. We did get a picture with him the last time we were down in Hurricane, not too long before his accident. It is now (and always will be) a priceless picture for Emily.

I will miss his zest for life! He was a go-er and a do-er. With so many years of Scouting in his life, he helped 102 Scouts make it to the rank of Eagle. 102!! In his journal there was a list of them all with the title: "Eagle Scouts (My Heroes)" . He literally changed the lives of so many young men and will have a legacy that will live on for a very long time. (The last 2 Eagle Scouts just had their ceremony a week or two before he passed away.)

I will miss his quest for learning and expanding the learning of others. At the time of his accident he had just started teaching an Electronic Circuits class at Dixie State. He had been preparing for 2 years to teach this class and was very excited about it. He was a very caring professor and even called his students when they forgot to show up for a test! He was a very hard worker and loved to help his students in his Physics classes too.

I will miss his love for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He read the book Jesus the Christ every December and served 2 missions with my Grandma for the Church--one to Mongolia (where he helped organize the first ever Scout troop there!) and the other to the Phillippines. He has a Book of Mormon that he has written in the back of each time he has read it, and from his recording it, he has read the Book of Mormon every year since 1963. Interestingly enough, he read it four times this last year...finishing it for the last time in April. His testimony was evident in the way he lived his life, loved his family, the way he treated his dear sweet "mouse", and how he testified of Christ.

I miss him very much and hope that he knows how much we all love him.

Here is a video that my dad put together for the funeral. It really gives you a good glimpse into the life of my Grandpa: