Grandpa Ellis

For those who don't know, my Grandpa Ellis died on Monday night at about 8:30pm.  (Nov 1st).  Don't feel sad though... he was done.  He wanted to be done.  He suffered from a blood cancer for a long time, And 9 years ago the love of his life died of ovarian cancer.  Jer asked me what I liked best about him.  Everything.  He's one of those people that loves unconditionally and takes time to listen and care for you. 

With Grandma they had 4 kids, adopted 2... fostered 3 more... and hosted many of the Vietnamese refugees in their home.  The have at least 24 grandkids and now about 32 great grandkids.  Plus being the grandpa to all of his second wife's kids and grandkids.  What a good man!

Some of my favorite memories of him are:

-Hiking with him in what we called "Grandpa's Canyon"

-Off roading in his 12 passenger van and listening to him say, "Don't tell her she's not a truck."

-Spending hours at Bear Lake being hauled by his tractor and boat trailer... draging our feet in the sand and making patterns in the sand.

-Learning how to drive the tractor... bouncing up and down on the seat with grandpa hanging on behind me telling me what to do next.

-Watching him cut a Blimpie pie with his pocket knife without cleaning it... after using it to clean his fingernails and cut misc other stuff...

-Going to the Joseph Smith farm with him and looking around the house and farm with our own personal tour guide...(My Grandpa's family was asked to farm and care for the farm when he was 8 and he stayed there until he left on his mission at 19)

-Our talks in the car about how my life was going and the decisions I was making (ie: I was working as a chemist assistant and he told me how he was working moving barrels of chemicals and had some dangerous things happen... and he decided that he would go to school to be a lawyer instead.)

-I told him that I was going to study Art at BYU... and where most people looked at me like I was crazy... Grandpa said, "That's my girl, my girl can do anything!"

-I loved watching how much he loved my grandma.  He even told her that she could go when she was in so much pain at the end... and she did... she was just holding on for him.

-Whatever he did worked... even if it didn't seem like it should.

We all love you so much Grandpa!  And we're proud of the way you lived your life and all the people that you've touched.  We're excited for your reunion with Grandma and love you always!