We Will Never Say Goodbye

(My dad when he was three with Grandpa Knabe after they caught a big fish in Little Rock, Illinois)

I have so many good memories of my Grandpa Knabe. (with Grandma too). They took me, James my brother, Kellie my sister, to Sea World and Knott's Berry Farm when we were little. I wanted to go on the "big kid" roller coaster, and I remember my Grandpa fought hard for me to get on a roller coaster I was too short for. I wasn't able to go, but he gave that kid a hard time for not letting me on.

Grandma and Grandpa Knabe moved to Bakersfield when my little brother Bradley was born in 1993. Here is a picture of Grandpa with a shovel at their new house site.

Then there is a picture of my grandparents on the front porch of their finished house.


Easter Sunday was my favorite time spent with Grandma and Grandpa Knabe. They would "hide" (scatter generously, really) eggs all around their backyard. Some eggs would be filled with candy, others with change, mostly quarters. Then the big money eggs would have 1,5, and 20 dollar bills in them. I'm not bitter Grandpa Knabe used to guide Bradley directly to the $20 dollar eggs. Well, not anymore. I usually came away with $50, so I had no room to complain.

He passed away last night from complications from pnemonia. He was 90 years old, going to be 91 this August. He and my Grandma were married for over 65 years. He had a good life. A loving wife, 3 kids, 9 grandchildren, 8.5 great-grandchildren. And he counted Annie, our family dog, as a member of the family. When my family would go out of town, Grandma and Grandpa Knabe would take Annie and watch her at their house. They would buy her treats and Grandpa would play ball with her outside. You better believe my grandma and grandpa sent her a Christmas card with MONEY in it this year!

(Me, my brother Brad, and my cousin Mark, his wife Jenny, and Drew with my grandparents)
(My dad, his sister Lynn, and my grandparents in Bakersfiefld, CA)

I am going to miss him. I haven't seen him in a year and a half since he and my grandma moved to Boise, ID to live with his daughter Lynn, and her husband, Dave. I always said that I would go and visit them because I was so close in Utah, it just never worked out. I regret not making the time to go and visit him.

I love you, Grandpa. You're in a better place now. God be with you 'til we meet again.

"You will always be a part of me".