This weekend, the world lost a great person. He was definitely a person that left this world and you know the world is not as great of a place now that he is gone. Early Saturday morning my Grandpa Barton passed away peacefully. It was something that we have been expecting and felt like we were prepared for him to go, because we knew that he was ready to progress to the next life...but it was still a loss. It was a realization that someone is gone and they aren't coming back. It was a realization that things will never be the same again. Yes, this day was expected, but it was still very very hard when reality hit that he was actually gone.
My Grandpa was a really neat man. He was a bishop in his 20's...stake president...area president...mission president...and temple president. Talk about devoting his life to the lord! His whole life was dedicated this his church and his beliefs and I am so proud to say that I was in his life and he was my Grandpa. When I was younger, he would always tell me stories about how he was good friends with a lot of apostles and prophets. He showed me all these letters he had from Pres. Kimball, Hinkley, Holland, Eyring, Faust, etc, etc. He was an amazing man. My sister got the rare opportunity to have him seal her and Byron together in the temple. He picked the site for the building of the Chicago Temple. I could go on and on about all that he had accomplished, because he truly was a man of god and he was so amazing. Yesterday, as I was driving up to the State Championship basketball game I had just gotten the news of his passing. I was pretty bummed out and decided that the best way to honor him was to just turn on church music. It was amazing the peace and comfort that I felt. I could feel him so close telling me that it was okay and he was where he belonged.
Some great memories I have with my Grandpa were spending time with him at his house in Bountiful. He taught me card games, played ball, went for walks, took us swimming, told us stories, talked sports, etc. We went to the zoo often and after they would take us to McDonald's for lunch, I loved it! It was such a special treat to go spend time with my grandparents. He was always so supportive of me when I played sports. Every summer, we had a tournament up in Layton where they lived. My mom and I would stay at their house and he would come watch every single game. I thought it was so cool that he was so supportive in all that I did. I have had some great conversations with him, and he has given me some pretty awesome advice. I was pretty lucky to have such a great Grandpa and I will always live by his example and honor him by living the gospel and serving others.
Thanks for being such a great guy, you will definitely be missed!
His White Elephant prize!
Always the life of the party at family events with his witty comments
My mom and her amazing dad
The Grandkids
My awesome grandparents!
Supporting me for my high school graduation 4 years ago
No comments:
Post a Comment