![\"Dad](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/715\/2017\/02\/Dad-with-fred-solo-pic-208x300.png\")
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You would have been 87 today, a respectable age for any Ohio hobbit. \u00a0Unfortunately, Alzheimer\u2019s got hold of you. \u00a0I still prefer to remember you in your younger days, where even my detractors in school looked up to you.<\/p>\n
In January, 1988, Dad had a heart attack. \u00a0He was saved by a new mediation at the time. \u00a0When I received the call, I was stunned. \u00a0I was in my third year of college. \u00a0Since he was a train engineer, we always worried because it was a dangerous job. \u00a0Not as bad as the steam days, but it had its share of risks. \u00a0That he was in the hospital due to health rather than accident, stunned all of us.<\/p>\n
The son of one of his coworkers cried when he heard the news. Chuck Griffey? \u00a0Heart attack? \u00a0The man who never stopped, strong as an ox, could build a house by himself from the ground up? \u00a0It was quite a wake up call. \u00a0It also softened his WWII era demeanor.<\/p>\n
Nonetheless, by the early 00s, we knew something was wrong. \u00a0By 2004 it was clear. \u00a0His memories were fading. \u00a0He lived long enough for my youngest to have a faint recollection of him. \u00a0A month after he moved to a nursing home, he was gone.<\/p>\n
He was a worker, and wasn\u2019t prone to father-son things, but was always there for us. \u00a0When my wife\u2019s grandmother died on our first Christmas morning together, a snow storm hit on the day of the funeral. \u00a0Without a moment\u2019s hesitation, Dad drove down through the snow from Ohio to Louisville to help her family navigate the journey to Lexington. \u00a0He was like that.<\/p>\n
Anyway, I miss you Dad. \u00a0 God\u2019s blessings and eternal prayers for you, and may God hold you in the loving arms that you demonstrated to us when we were growing up. \u00a0Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let the perpetual light shine upon him.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
You would have been 87 today, a respectable age for any Ohio hobbit. \u00a0Unfortunately, Alzheimer\u2019s got hold of you. \u00a0I still prefer to remember you in your younger days, where even my detractors in school looked up to you. In January, 1988, Dad had a heart attack. \u00a0He was saved by a new mediation at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2805,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63,10,35,83],"tags":[11,5],"class_list":["post-8752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-memorial","category-prayers","category-the-family","category-tributes","tag-prayers","tag-the-family"],"yoast_head":"\n