Grandpa Enright

At the end of September, I got the call that my Grandpa Enright had passed away at the age of 86.

Even though we lived several states away, he was just about as involved of a grandparent as you could be with that much distance. He was always interested in our school activities and even though I never continued the family tradition of competitive swimming, I think it's neat that both he and I shared a love for journalism. I have many fond memories of him coming to Texas or us going to California with fun activities in both places.

And I will always remember that he braved the freezing rain one December evening in West Texas to attend my college graduation. Probably not where a California native wanted to be.

Although I wish that I had been able to see him recently and introduce him to his 2nd great-grandson who was also named after him, I'm thankful that he was in great spirits and very much himself the last time we were there.

My sister & I were fortunate to be able to fly to California to be part of the services to honor his long and full life. I loved hearing so many stories of his childhood newspaper routes, his lifelong devotion to CAL football, his many travels, and his time in the Army. I've grown to appreciate and understand the significance of his service during WWII much more as I've grown older. He was in a very famous part of the war's history with the group that liberated the prisoners of war from the Bataan Death March in the Philippines.

And very much in true Grandpa fashion, a couple years ago he began handwriting his life story. It is absolutely amazing to read the things and stories he remembered. I can't remember what I wore yesterday, but he could recall the score of several CAL games he watched as a kid and who scored the winning touchdown. We are all so thankful he took the time to do this.

I have now lost two of my grandparents. It's such a sad twist of fate that right when we can appreciate them the most and better understand the hardships and trials they went through is when we lose the opportunity to spend time with them. We will all miss him, but are so thankful for the memories we have.

An early memory from one of my trips by myself to California during the summer. Grandpa & Colleen took me to Carmel and the Monterrey Bay Aquarium. See the love for his granddaughter that he wasn't even embarrassed to be seen with me in my lovely '80s attire.

This video is definitely a keepsake. Grandpa came to meet Tate a few weeks after he was born. We were at my parent's house and put the video camera on record as Grandpa held him and we all talked. Of course I don't enjoy hearing myself talking in the background, but I love getting to go back and watch moments like this where you can really see his sense of humor. He got some of the biggest, earliest smiles out of Tate.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Trip to California in 2007 for the CAL season opener (and a big win).

Our last visit with Grandpa in July 2008.

One funny memory I have to record and remember is that the priest forgot to do the eulogy during the memorial service. Awkward. The family member that was supposed to speak just went ahead and walked up to the front after the priest had dismissed everyone. Unfortunately the pianist didn't see him walk up there, so she just kept on playing. Finally after several minutes she looked up and stopped playing, and then he did a great job sharing many good memories. I later told my parents that I could just hear Grandpa saying, "Well they really fouled up my funeral!" :)

His burial service was later that afternoon at the National Cemetery and was very moving. As a retired Colonel, he received full military honors complete with Taps on the Bugle and Amazing Grace on the bagpipes.

And a trip like this brings with it sadness, but it ended for us with a wonderful surprise. My cousin went into labor several weeks early, so I was able to meet my 2nd cousin (? not sure the term), Audrey. She is a beautiful little baby, and Amy did a great job enduring 48 hours+ of labor!

And the night before we left, the "original 4" had a nice dinner together @ Scoma's.