Blog Post #1

My grandpa, Charles Ebright, was one of the most amazing people I have been so lucky to have in my life. He was actually my great-grandpa, but he was also the only grandpa I have known, so that is what he always was and still is to me.

In early 1998, my great-grandma, Kathryn, passed away due to many health problems. At the time, I was only a year and a half old so I have no recollection of the time. I know that every year after that, that I can remember, was hard for my grandpa because he loved her so dearly. They were married for 46 years, and as of right now have acquired three children, 16 grandchildren, 33 great-grandchildren and 6 great-great grandchildren.

      Every once in a while, my grandpa would take my brother, Nathan, to the shooting range. He always told Nate that he had a great eye. Almost never missing the target, they would spend all day practicing and spending time together.

Years ago, when my grandma, mom and sister would go to Grandpa's house to clean every Monday, Mom would always find my sister, Allee, sitting at the top of the stairs, seemingly talking to herself. Mom would ask her who she was talking to and all she said back was, "The nice lady up here". Grandpa would tell my mom to leave her alone; they knew exactly who she was talking to(it was great-grandma).

Once, while they were over to clean, Allee went to give Grandpa a gentle hug because of how fragile he seemed to be at the age of 86. Rather than a small hug, he picked her up and squeezed her tight, shocking everyone. They thought he had hurt himself but all he said was, "I may be old, but I'm still strong". I never heard that story until the day of his funeral, when my sister bravely walked up in front of the crowd and shared one of the many memories she had of him.

Grandpa passed away December 27, 2015, his funeral being New Year's Eve. We all knew it was just a matter of time before it happened.

Every year we would celebrate Thanksgiving at our church. The entire family came and, before eating we would stand in a large circle, hold hands, sing grace, and go around the circle with each person saying what they were thankful for. When it came time for Grandpa's turn, he always got emotional when telling us how thankful he was to still be here with us because he never knew if he would be here the next year.

The last year of his life, he was living in a senior care center. He was not happy with the arrangement but it had to be done because he could no longer take care of himself with the simplest of tasks.

While my grandpa lived in the senior care center, my family and I visited as often as we could. During our last visit, December 26, 2015, Grandpa seemed to be having a bad day. He asked us to leave almost immediately, without any goodbye or hugs. I knew something was wrong, as I cried while walking back to my car. I quickly pulled myself together so I could drive my siblings and myself back home.

The next night, around 11 pm, my mom got a call telling her that Grandpa was no longer with us. I went upstairs to tell my brother the news but when he looked at me he already knew what I was about to say.

My grandma told me what happened the night of his death later on that week. She and my great-aunt were taking shifts to watch him because he didn't want to see anyone else. During my grandma's shift, Grandpa wanted to take a bath. He told the nurse that she wasn't cleaning him well enough and started to scrub his body roughly. Grandma asked him why he was doing that. His response was, "I want to look nice for Kay (short for Kathryn)".

Not even fifteen minutes after my great-aunt came to take her shift and my grandma left to go home, Grandpa took his last breath.

I never realized how well known and loved my great-grandpa was until his calling hours. A man I dog sit for, knew Grandpa's legacy and was sad to hear of his passing. He assured me that he would take care of anything that he could and called everyone from the New Philadelphia Lodge. He knew what a great man my grandpa was and wanted to make sure everything went well.

After the calling hours ended and everyone was leaving, he stopped me to tell me how great of a turn-out we had; it was one of the top three largest groups of military honors that he had ever  seen attending the calling hours of one of their own. I knew it had to be true. They were all lined up around the room, having to make three rows for how many showed up. Some I even saw crying.

After the funeral the next day, even through all the tears and sadness of it all, I left with a lighter heart. I knew then that my grandpa would be okay because he was now walking at the hand of God and in the hand of his true love.

My grandpa's legacy is not the things that he did in his life; it is the love and friendship that he gave to each and every person he encountered. And that is the legacy that I aspire to have someday.

To find out more about my grandpa, here is a link from his obituary:

http://www.geibfuneral.com/obituary/charles-edward-chuck-ebright/