February 8, 1921 - June 17, 2006
I arrived at age 30 with two full sets of grandparents...that in itself is such a blessing. I don't think that very many people are able to make that statement. All four were such a huge part of my childhood, and because of that I have so many wonderful memories.
I am utterly saddened because my recent last-minute trip to St. Louis was to attend the funeral of my McCarthy grandfather. He was eighty-five years old...he had been through a rough few months, first having a stroke and then adding pneumonia on top of it. It was finally too much for him, and he passed away peacefully, to join my father Michael and my uncle Randy...
The funeral was hard. My grandpa was cremated, so there was no chance to have a last look to hold onto. So the way I will remember him is from our last visit at Thanksgiving...the picture above is from that visit. My uncle Kevin spoke at the funeral, and that was such a moving thing to behold. To see such a strong, serious military man fight for his words between sobs was heartwrenching. I was touched to my core. And we all discovered that my grandpa was quite decorated in his military career, including three purple hearts and four bronze stars. He was such an impressive man...so couragous...so brave. And yet he never spoke of it...he never complained of his war wounds. There are so many things I wish I could ask him...should have asked him. I guess that's how it always is...
He will be buried at the Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery...quite an impressive place. To hear the guns salute him, to watch the military unfold the flag and then refold it and present it to my grandma, to drive through the grounds and see all of the uniform white headstones signifying all the veterans who have passed away...all very moving.
It was a rough few days at home...it was good to spend time with my family...it was good to honor such a wonderful, dignified man who has meant so much to my life...he will be missed by me forever...
4 comments:
Such a sweet photo to go along with your memories of that sweet man.
Very heartfelt post! I am so glad to hear that you had all four of your grandparents with you until you turned 30, you are so right, not many people are lucky enough to say that. I enjoyed reading your message today and finding out more about your McCarthy Grandfather. Again I am sorry for your loss.
I'm sorry to hear about your grandfather. That was such a sweet post.
This is the first time in ages I've seen your site and was very pleased to see a photo of Grandpa right away. Before he started getting sick we used to look at your site together on his computer that he was so proud he was able to figure out...with a little help from me of course:) He always enjoyed seeing how well you seemed to be doing. We will all miss him very much and thank you for saying such nice things about him. Love you...Katie-Bugg
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