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Note: ial Grandpa. I can never think of a time that I felt nothing but closeness to my Grandfather. I loved him very much and some of the earliest recollections of my childhood would have been with him.
Grandpa had a very hard childhood. He was the oldest male child of the family and with the death of his father (at a very young age) he was in charge of making money and helping his mother. He did not speak of his childhood to much, he had difficulty sharing those thoughts.
The home that the family lived in was on the south side of Eureka Utah. This house used to stand high on the hill that was south of town overlooking the Eureka Cemetery. It stood on the left side of the road, the cemetery road to the right. The house was a small one bedroom home with a tiny kitchen and living room area.
In the cemetery across the street you will find the graves of Katie Frisby Towers, Guy Rudolph Towers and Arthur Conrad Towers.
Grandpa married 13 June 1936 to Mary Bullock. She may be half Czek and half Austrian. She is buried next to her parents in the old Copperton Cemetary, which is named Bingham Cemetary. It can be found on the north side of town leaving copperton. I visited the grave this past year of 1998 while I was in Utah. I knew that Grandpa would have planted a pine tree near her grave. I looked for all of the pine trees and under one (Juniper Pine) I found her.
She was told not to have a child because of her weak heart. She did conceive and while she was 8 months pregnant her heart gave way and she died. At the time the doctor held the baby inside her not letting the baby be born. The doctor said it was better for my grandfather not know what it was, of course there is a strong possibility the child would have lived... it haunted my grandpa. This was one of the saddest moments of my Grandfathers life.
To say that my Grandpa was a wonderful man; many would disagree with me. But to me he was a wonderful man. He had the palest blue eyes that twinkled with alot of mischief. He was a very hardheaded and stubborn man. He spoke very fast with a somewhat slurred speech. I would say he was about 5' 11" tall with very thick course black curly hair. He had a head full of hair. He had the strongest hands and would squeeze your knees until tears ran down you r face. I hated him to squeeze my knees, I knew they would pop off and fly across the room.
I have many memories of him, he showed me the world. He took me on vacations all summer long to many wonderful places. Mount Rushmore, Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, Native Indian reservations, to all of the canyon lands and national parks of Utah. He took us to Flaming Gorge many times fishing and one of the last places he took me was Fish Lake.
I learned how to clean a fish from Grandpa and I remember how patient he was showing me how to cut it open. I was pretty upset about the mommy fish and all the eggs that came squirting out of one. He made me feel better about this experience.
He was near me when I went to college and he brought all of my things back to Colorado after 4 months of college. He would come up to Weber College and get me and take me to Marie Callenders for some pie or soup. I loved our outings. He also was the second person to teach me how to drive a stick shift. (My Dad had tried previously and pretty much given up).
When I gave birth to Christian my Grandfather was beside himself with pride. This was his first great grandchild. He came to Provo just to feed me once a week. (He wanted to keep my milk up) I was nursing and he thought that Dan wasn't feeding me enough. :)
I remember him taking me to see my Great Grandmother Kolts in Brigham City as soon as I learned she had a stroke. I called him in Eureka which was one hour away, and he came to pick me up with in a few hours and we traveled clear up to Brigham City another two and a half hours. She was his ex-mother-in-law but he still took me, no questions asked. I believe he was as concerned as I was about Grandma Kolts, I know he loved her. He spoiled me rotten.
I saw him the last time when we were moving from Maine to Germany. Brock was born and we went up to see him in Eureka. We had a great time, he took Christian (who was a very demanding four year old) on his four wheeler up in the foothills above Eureka. I remember feeling so much love for him when I left and crying really hard when we were driving down the highway from Eureka. Chuck asked me why I was crying so hard and I told him that I felt it would be the last time that I saw him.
He did die when I was in Germany...I will always love him.
Ordained a Deacon by George N. Finch.
Note: I thought that I would put to pen the memories I have of this very spec
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