Alma, MI

Grandpa Ted Brecht

November 8th, 2013

After Rainier, I stuck around in Seattle waiting for my laptop to come back. It was acting up and had to be sent back for servicing. In that time I also tweaked my back somehow (still kind of a mystery). Once I got my laptop back, I figured I would hit the road again. I had been in Seattle on and off for about a month and was itching to get back out there.

I was about ready to leave when I got a call from my Mom. My Grandpa (Mom's side) wasn't doing well back home. Grandpa hadn't been doing well for a while, but in the past week he had taken a turn towards the worst. I dropped my plans and found the first flight back to Michigan.

I landed in Grand Rapids around 10:30pm and waited for my sister to get there from Chicago. I took up the driving, arriving in Elwell around midnight. She had to work all day before heading to pick me up.

We were able to see Grandpa in the hospital. I had seen my Grandma Doherty (Dad's side) before she passed and the sight was very similar. The man that I loved was sitting there in pain and looked rather foreign to me. Grandpa was always smiling when us kids were around but he was out of it. The worst part was feeling absolutely powerless.

Grandpa always hated hospitals, so we moved him to hospice. The place was out in the woods, surrounded by trees and really peaceful. Grandpa passed while most of us were on our way to the hospice. Those who were around said that he seemed to relax a little after seeing he was out of the hospital.

My cousin Adam and his fiance Angela drove all day from Duluth, MN but didn't make it in time. I don't know if that is better or worse. My sister didn't get to see Grandma Doherty before she passed. Her memories don't include the sadness of seeing Grandma in pain.

Grandpa and Adam

We decided we would scan some pictures we had of him and make a slide show. I did a lot of the scanning with my sister, but when it came time to put the slideshow together I was incapacitated by my back. The pain had been around since I hurt it, but it reasserted  with a vengeance. I couldn't stand, sit, or lay down. My Dad took me to emergency care and they gave me some meds that made it manageable. Adam was able to finish the slideshow with his dad.

My back also prevented me from being a pallbearer at the funeral. This hurt because I felt that this was the one thing I could do for him and it had been taken away. I know Grandpa would understand, but it still had me feeling useless.

At the cemetery, Grandpa was honored with a 21 gun salute for his service. He joined the Army during the Korean War and was stationed in Greenland 1952 to 1954.

I spent my summers out on the farm with my sister. We would always "help" grandpa by shucking corn, cleaning the dust off the combine, or cutting grass around the machines. He would cook us breakfast in the morning; sausage, pancakes and eggs. Adam and I rode with him a few times to drop off grain at the elevators, often hopping in the wagons to help force the grain out. He always had a few animals following him around, often with us joining the pack. He was always, always good to us.

I am not a very emotional person, at least on the outside, but this hurt. Even now, writing this, I am fighting tears. My Grandpa was a great man and I will miss him dearly.