Remembering Papa Dink

My 94 year old step grandfather passed away early on Saturday morning. He was married to my grandmother for almost 32 years, so he has been apart of my family for close to my entire life. Just imagine a hard-working man living in rural southern Arkansas who loved to hunt, garden, and spend time with his grandkids. He owned his own company and worked until he was in his 80's. He and my grandma lived about 1/2 hour from where I lived as a child. Whenever we would drive over for the day, I would always know when Papa Dink would be home for lunch - within minutes of the town clock ringing 12:00 noon. My grandma would have a wonderful meal prepared for him. Lunch was the big meal of the day. He would take a quick snooze in his recliner and then back off to work. When he got home in the evenings he would tend to his garden. I always enjoyed it when he took me to join him there. I wish I would have actually paid attention to what he was doing because I cannot keep a plant from dying to save my life. He also had a passion for his grandkids.

We moved to Massachusetts when my older kids were 2 1/2 and 1 1/2 so they were unable to spend alot of time with him, but the time they were allowed was memorable. Josiah remembers Papa Dink driving him around the garden in his golf cart. Papa Dink had a very special place in his heart for Jacob. His love for him was very obvious and very refreshing. So many people shy away from interacting with him because they just don't know what to do or say. Not Papa Dink. I loved that so much. He and Alex got along very well. Since Alex has been involved in landscaping the past couple of years, they alway had lots to talk about. We will all miss him very much.

I sure wish I could have been there for the funeral on Monday, but hopefully everyone knew my thoughts were there. Just wanted to share a little bit about a great man.