Grandpa Whitesides - My True Hero

I would feel like I had missed a great opportunity if I didn't take the chance to say a few things about the passing of my Grandpa Whitesides.
After fighting Parkinson's Disease for many years, he finally passed away on Tuesday, 25 March 2008. He had been in a comatose state for three days prior to that, but other than that had been fairly with it most of the way.
I was fortunate enough to have been able to visit with him and Grandma about three weeks ago in their home. Though he did say a few things that didn't make sense, he also recognized both me and Autumn and said a few things to contribute to the conversation.
Then, last Sunday following Uncle Grant's mission farewell talk, we again had the chance to go over and say goodbye. It was nice to be able to see him one last time and let him know we loved him, but he didn't really look all that great and it makes me feel good to know that he has been released from the confines of his aging body.
I was actually in Painesville, OH when Mom called to tell me of his passing. I was at a two-day interactive interview with Avery Dennison (the office products company). The interview seemed to go fairly well and I enjoyed the visit. Their facility is about two miles from the Kirtland Temple, so we got to go see it twice, which was fun. Autumn wasn't able to go with me on the interview, but there were several other BYU students who attended the interview process. We rented a Mustang, which was kind of fun to drive. I really don't like Ford that much though, so even though it was a classic car and kind of a "muscle car", I still would never buy one. I was happy to get home to my Mazda 6.
The viewing and funeral for Grandpa were very classy and nice and I think he was very pleased with the proceedings. He may have been most pleased about the fact that it started promptly at 11 am and was done in an hour. And that the Letter from the Ole Country was read too. That would have made him laugh. My mom gave a great tribute to him as well as Uncle Ray and there were several beautiful musical numbers. People spoke of his organization, tidiness, work ethic, and ability to show his caring spirit and interact with people. It was all very fitting, but they forgot to mention his love of Tasty's Donuts. Other than that, I felt the character sketch was fairly complete.
I have never been a pallbearer, and was pleased to have been able to participate in that role to help Grandpa. He was buried in the Kaysville cemetery next to Ross.
Grandpa is the closest person to me that has passed away in my life. I find that fairly remarkable, considering I'm 28 and have a lot of associates. I think he is perhaps the relative that I am closest too, not only physically, but in many of my likes and personality as well. From everything I could gather about him, I may have learned to play a little more than he ever did (he didn't play much at all), but we are both fascinated by a good machine, have inquisitive minds, and like manual labor. He likes to weed a bit more than I do and has a greater love for the soil probably than I do too though. In fact, they had his old work boots (smooth soles to keep the mud off, of course), his coveralls, and his worn but sharp hoe at his viewing. Mom mentioned how his hoe really represents him well: simple, sharp, good quality metal, very effective tool, clean, and well-worn. I thought that was a great analogy.
To me, Grandpa is one of my best and closest real-life heroes. I'll miss him and try to live up to his namesake. Those surely are big shoes to fill.