Through the years....

These are a very few of the pictures of my FIL, papa (pronounced pawpaw) during the last few years since we've had digital.



He dearly loved traveling in our motor home. We had good times on trips.


He was so proud of the grandchildren.

This is one of our son's college graduation.


Papa with his brother during a family reunion. His brother is the only sibling left. He was so faithful to visit papa every day.



Nobody ever loved a good meal more than papa! His friends called him Mikey from the commercial some years ago where the older brothers gave the cereal to the younger brother and said "Give it to Mikey, he'll eat anything!" Of course, Papa wanted his french fries real crispy with no salt. He believed with all his heart that if the grease was hot enough, you could fry all the fat out of fried foods. No, he really believed that! He loved anything that crunched!
Papa's 80th birthday.
Another grandson's birthday.
As unusual as it may seem, I love my in laws as parents and as friends.
Papa wasn't able to attend Matt's "coating ceremony" but he was able to go to lunch afterward.

Christmas. This was during his chemo and radiation. He handled that really well and never lost a hair!


This was really 5/5/05. (My camera was wrong!) Another grandson was getting married and we took advantage of being dressed to get a family picture. This was about a year and a half before we knew he was sick.

Papa loved my grandchildren and they loved him. My daughter in law referred to him this way....."He was always a strong, friendly and smiley man" Others have referred to him as a real gentleman!
One of our many trips to the mountains. They had a timeshare there and we took many happy trips with them. They were very generous about having us with them on trips......plus they loved for my husband to drive! :)

Russell always fixes pancakes, waffles, bacon and whatever else you could want for breakfast on Christmas morning......remember, Papa loved to eat! This is some time ago because it was before we remodeled out kitchen.
Another Christmas photo with children and grandchildren.
Christmas at our house when we first got little Mikey for papa......he became our dog, but papa had visiting rights. This is before I got rid of the "antique" player piano.

These are just a few glimpses into our lives with papa. You'll notice he and mema are always very close. They would have had their 60th wedding anniversary in June.

He was described fondly by so many people. We have gotten cards and letters from his friends......one friend said "Les is the only man I know that there was never a bad word said about." He was honorable, Godly, loving in word and deed.