My younger brother, Cory, wrote the following about our grandfather after his passing. You all may be sick of reading about him by now, but we're not sick of talking about him. :) Cory didn't ask me to post this, but I thought it was worth sharing.

My Pap was a husband, father, grandfather (a pap), soldier, police officer and best of all a Christian. I had 22 1/2 years to spend with him and learn from him, and boy did I learn. I learned it’s OK to sleep in church, to always work hard and the list goes on. One thing he passed on to me, but I didn’t realize it till the day before his burial, was a sense of duty. At 12:30 am, only 8 1/2 hours before his service, thinking “I’m ready to do to bed” (from stress and sadness from the past few days and knowing the next day would be hard), my fire pager went off letting me know that my station had a confirmed structure fire. Without a thought I left for the fire to do my job and 4 1/2 hours later returned to go to sleep.

My uncle talked about my Pap, his Dad, to many over those couple of days about his sense of duty. I have a little different service than he did, but we both did it to help. So for the next year and for the rest of my days of service, I dedicate this to you, Pap, that every time those fire whistles go off and every time the EMS bells ring, I will do it not just for the people I may help, but for the man that taught me to be strong no matter how hard it is. I do it for you, Pap, and I thank you for what you have given me. I love you, Pap.