Grandpa Pace

So the next weekend after we had gone to Vegas we had to head back to my parents house. My Grandpa Pace passed away on September 21 and his funeral was that next Monday. I know I have a picture of him somewhere but some of our pics are on another hard drive that Gary needs to transfer over so this was the best I could do. It is a great picture though of my grandpa in his cowboy hat, which he never went out without it on.
Sadly I wasn't the best about going over to visit with grandpa. It had actually been a couple of years since I had been in to talk to him. He was 85 years old and the past few months he had been really sick. So it was actually a blessing that he passed away when he did. My dad was thinking they would have to be him in the care center which grandpa did not want to do. So this way they did not have to force him to do that. He peacefully passed away in the hospital. My mom was there and said it was so neat. When he passed away he just had this aura about him and all his wrinkles just kind of faded away. My grandpa was not the most talkative man and he didn't always know how to show us that he loved us by giving hugs and things like that but we always knew he cared. When we were growing up he was always there to support us in whatever we were doing. Sometimes him and my grandma would sit at the baseball fields for hours to catch all the different grand kids games. He would come to the basketball and football games so he could watch me dance with the Tri-Dels at halftime. One thing that I thought was so nice was that even after my grandma died he continued to make sure each of us grand kids got a little Christmas money each year. It was just a little thing but grandma always did it and I really thought it would just stop but he kept it up. I did not know this story but my mom had written it down as one of her memories. When my mom and dad were doing the adoption process and had found out they were going to get me, they were down talking to grandpa about how much money it was going to cost and how they didn't know how they were going to do it. And by the time they left he handed them a check for the full amount.
My grandpa had not gone to church in a long time and I think he was very confused by a lot of things out in the world. Hopefully now he will accept the gospel and him and my grandma can finally be sealed together. With the passing of my grandpa it has made me really think about how grateful I am for our eternal family. I am so thankful for my parents and for their example. I am thankful they were married in the temple so our family will always be sealed together. I am thankful for mine and Gary's temple marriage and the knowledge we have that we will be together forever as well.
Grandpa you will definitely be missed. I am so thankful for all of your love and support that you have given me over the years. We all love you so much.