If he hadn't been sick, he and my mother would have been canning for weeks now.

He would pull out his old potato cutter and his iron skillet. Everybody just loved them.

They went everywhere together. He even loved to shop with her. He pampered my mom. He had her up on a pedestal.

He loved his grandchildren. He practically raised my daughter. He would take her to school and pick her up, and they would walk through town together. He was so compassionate, and he had the patience of a saint.

He even made his own sauerkraut from the cabbage he grew.

He went to church every Sunday and the holidays. He had a lot of faith in God and left everything up to him.