Grandad’s Eulogy
I am the youngest of grandads 4 grandaughters, and the only one left in NZ. The girls are very sad that they cant be here with the family today, with Sarah in South of France, Megan in Scotland and Susan in Sydney. But we all know what granddad would have said to them, and that would be for them to stay where they are. Sarah asked me to say a few things from her today.
When we think about granddad only happy memories come to mind. He always had a huge smile on his face and would always be telling us a story of when one of us was little, be it his two daughters Mum and Jean or his granddaughters. He would be chuckling away as he slapped his knee.
Grandad was a very creative man and made a number of toys for us. I think his proudest creation was a wooden trolley built for Sarah, who’s face beamed every time she played with it. He also built table and chairs for us, cots for our dolls as well as a blackboard and easel and slide to name a few.
Grandad was a family man and could not talk highly enough of us all. After over 60 years of marriage, granddad still adored nana, she was the love of his life. He was constantly giving her cuddles and kisses and affectionately patting her on the head. When nana and granddad went out, granddad would always be holding nana’s hand and saying “you alright luv”. And until the very last day, he was telling nana how beautiful she is.
Grandad adored his 2 daughters, and was constantly telling Sarah and I stories of when they were younger, what beautiful little girls they were and the mischief they got up to. Mum, grandad would always be telling us how proud he was of you, how much he loved you and how lucky we were to have parents like you and dad, which we completely agree.
I will never forget the look on grandads face when Sarah and I would walk through the door to visit him. His face would light up and he would put his arms around us and SQUEEZE. Grandad was always so interested in our lives, how we were doing at work, uni, and whether I was playing netball. He made sure we new how proud he was of us.
Sarah and I were trying to think of specific moments or memories about grandad, we remembered playing golf in his back yard, marbles and tiddlywinks, how everytime w e played cards and grandad put down a diamonds, he would sing…”diamonds are a girls best friend”, and I loved the smell of grandad cooking bread as we walked into his house. But what stood out most from these memories is the amount of love and adoration he showed through his kisses and cuddles to the look of amazement and contentedness on his face.
Grandad was a special man, and over the past few days I have learned that this isn’t a biased opinion. Anyone that met grandad will agree that there was something exceptional and rare in him, a love for life, a love for his family and shear determination, which got him as far as he did.
Mum, Nana and Jean, you meant everything to grandad.
Grandad you are amazing. I want to live like you lived, you were excited about everyday you had and you took every opportunity you were given. I’m going to make you proud grandad. I can’t tell you how much you will be missed. From Sarah and I, we love you, goodbye.