A True Gentle Giant...a tribute to my grandpa, my friend

March has been a whirlwind of emotions, I know that I am not alone in feeling a loss of one of the best men I have ever known. My grandpa, Melvin Clark, passed away on March 4th and has left behind quite a legacy of love and hard work.

He exemplified so many attribute in his life and they were so poignantly celebrated last Saturday when his funeral took place.

I have so many things to be thankful for when considering what his life has meant to me, I put together some of those thoughts just a few days after he passed away and wanted to share those:

"I have so many fond memories of grandpa, he was always so upbeat and positive about anything I decided to involve myself with in my life. I remember when both he and grandma left for their mission to Spain how hard it was on me to see them go because they were such a huge part of my life. I wrote them as often as I could and loved to read their letters back. I loved to hear of their experiences and counted down the days until they returned. I have told many of my friends and co-workers how they were so supportive and went to all of my school activities and sporting events, they were basically just an extension of my parents. It is pretty amazing with how many grandkids that they have that they were able to personally impact every one of them as intimately as they did. I used to love to play ping pong and croquet with grandpa, he was always willing to take time out for his family.

I remember early on in my mission when I was struggling with the strict rules and wrote home a little frustrated, grandpa and grandma wrote me back and one of the things grandpa said that stuck out was "you have been sent to that part of the vineyard for a reason, embrace the difficult things with the good and the Lord will make up the difference". It helped kick me into gear and I often recalled that part of his letter during the remainder of my mission. It was exciting for me to be in the same ward as him during my teenage years. I heard from every ward member how lucky I was to have Mel as my grandpa, this was true of the adults as well as the youth. I saw how everyone respected my grandpa and loved him first hand, I agree with all of them...I must have done something right before this life to get to have him as my grandpa!"

The same is true of my grandma who I admire and pray for during this difficult time. She and grandpa were such a great part of my childhood and I pray the Lord's choicest blessings to be upon her during this temporary separation from grandpa.

I miss this amazing man who had such an impact on my life, I will miss having him so near physically, but know that he is near in so many other ways. I love him and miss him!