Olech's Eulogy

First, when I heard about Grandpa dying, I was pretty mad. Still didn’t get to say goodbye to him. And if anybody knows, me and him were like best friends.

Earliest things I can really talk about are the fun things he did with us kids. He made me all sorts of things. He made me a dresser. He made a hope chest for Deachi. He made a loft bed–if you don’t know what that is, it’s about four feet tall, and it’s a bad idea if you have a ceiling fan. [Audience laughs] ‘Cuz I found that out the hard way. Deachi talks about how she used to do back flips off the chest, cuz she figured it’d be easier to get off the ground, but don’t know if she ever crashed or not.

We always came over to Grandpa’s and always had the breakfast. And we’d stay the night and wake up in the morning and have breakfast, and Grandpa would always wake us up at seven o’clock. Merrick always wanted to sleep in, but she never got a chance to. And it was always fun, we always got to be with Grandpa.

He was at our house a lot after Grandma Guier died, and he came over pretty much every day and always acted like he would chew on my ear so he would get the dog riled up so the dog would grab his pant leg.

One thing about him, he always had gum in his car, little bottles of Coke in his fridge. He had the gum in his glove compartment, and we’d always ask, “Could we go and get a pack of gum?” And he always had them. He always had Eskimo Pies in the fridge; he always took me to the rodeo, so I could go run around with friends. He gave me a belt buckle which I still carry today, and I’ll always have it for the rest of my life.

He’d always tease me about coming over to the house–we’d go chase naked ladies. [Audience laughs] And I’d stay the night, and be a little disappointed that we didn’t get to go chase naked ladies. He’d make everything okay, because we’d go to Braum’s or Blue Moon.

And one thing I’m grateful for in my life that I never had until about 1990, was he met Viola and brought her back to Ponca City, and gave me one of the best grandmothers I’ve had. Without you, he couldn’t have lived as long as he did. And I'm so thankful for you. He’s my hero, my guardian angel, and my best friend, one I could always turn to, trust and love.

He was ornery, course we all know that. But easy to get along with, and always talked about the Navy. You could never hear enough about the Navy. So proud of all his grandchildren, all his kids, and we’re so proud of him too. He helped my Mom and Dad bring me home from the hospital, but it’s ironic that I have to take him home to God.

I guess this is finally my way, that I can finally say goodbye, in my own way.