Herb still drove, still ran most of his own errands, walked without a cane or walker, and had only had 2 hospitalizations in his entire life....both minor. Last spring was one of those hospitalizations, and for 2 months, Herb needed a little home health care. I went down there (his house is only 5 houses down the street from mine) twice a day till he recovered. During that time, I grew to know the man fairly well.
He was one of the funniest guys I've ever known. He was awesome to spend time talking to, whether we talked about his days in WWII, his marriage, his sons, his work, or things in my life. He cared deeply about his wife, who passed away last June, and was married to her for 71 years. I would call him, or visit him, from time to time, just to get his advice. He never failed to make me feel better, and cheer me up, and usually I could call him sad, and hang up laughing. He was very intelligent, and just 2 months ago wrote a letter to President Obama, detailing his idea to fix our mational debt. (We haven't heard back yet....)He was very proud of his 30 years as a credit manager, and even prouder of his years in Europe during WWII. His answering machine message finishes with him saying, "God bless America". He made me promise to him that whenever he passed away, that I would make SURE he was wearing his WWII Veteran's cap. And he is.
Herb could be stubborn, and so can I. I will never forget one day last summer, when he and I clashed about his health care. Next thing you know, this 91(at the time) year old man is yelling at me, and I'm yelling at him. I stalked out of his house, only to have him call me in tears an hour later, telling me he loved me, and was afraid I wasn't going to come back. I felt so bad that I ran right back down there.
My dad died when I was 17. Herb is over 50 years older than me. But I always told him I felt like he WAS a dad to me, and a grandpa to my girls. His best friend in the world was his wife, and his second best friend in the world was my husband. Those 2 talked every day, usually several times a day. My girls, especially Emily, adored him. He was always giving them little trinkets, but he always had to make a game of it. On his last birthday, he told the 4 of us to pick a number between 1 and 4. Then he disappeared into his room, and reappeared with one of his wife's old purses. My 14 year old picked the winning number, and "won" a free purse.
Only three weeks ago, I had his house professionally cleaned for him, as a Christmas gift. He had been wanting this done forever. Before the cleaning company does their work, they do a home visit so we could get an estimate. Herb wasn't concerned with price. He wasn't concerned about credidentials or quality of work. No, Herb was asking what the ladies who would be doing the cleaning LOOKED like. He requested pretty ones. LOL The man doing the home inspection and estimate, was quite a solemn, dour man to begin with, but, like most people who met Herb, he left laughing.
I only knew my father in law 3 years. I've only been his daughter for not even 2 years. But that man was special to me. I love him. He left a good impression on anyone who met him even briefly, and I'm going to miss him sooooo much. Here he is last summer. This isn't the BEST picture of him, but it captures that great, big grin of his. I love ya, "Grandpa Herb"
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