Grandpa Earl

Today is my grandpa Earl's birthday. He would have been 107 years old today. But, he died in 1983 - 25 years ago. Wow, I cannot believe that he's been gone 25 years already. It seems like just yesterday. He died on my brother, Kurt's, 8th birthday. He had been very sick with cancer and was staying at my Uncle John's (who has also passed away from cancer) house in Brigham City, Utah for a while. My parents felt bad about missing Kurt's birthday, but they barely made it to BC before grandpa died.

Grandpa was an awesome man. He had the best cherry tree EVER in his backyard. He had other fruit trees too, but the cherry tree was the BEST! It was HUGE! And, every 4th of July, we spent it high in the tree, up his very, very long ladder, picking cherries. They were always so good and sweet. Somehow, his cherries rarely were bird-pecked. Just this week, I saw bags of cherries in the grocery store and they reminded me of him. They do every time I see them!

Grandpa loved ice cream. You always knew you would find a container of it in his freezer in the kitchen. I don't recall if he had a freezer in his basement or not, but I bet that if he did, it was probably filled with ice cream!

Grandpa ALWAYS wore this one particular style of brown shirt and jeans and an old tan hat (except on Sunday). And when I say always, I mean ALWAYS! I don't EVER recall in all my years of knowing him, ever seeing him in anything different other than on Sunday.

Grandpa was 42 years old when his first child (my dad) was born. He served in World War II and I also think WWI. I seem to recall someone in the family telling me that.

Grandpa was a great man and taught my dad a lot. He came from good pioneer stock and his love of the gospel was great. I'm glad he was my grandpa!