Great-Grandpa Fred, aka "Pops"

The kids one and only living GREAT grandfather passed away yesterday. I consider them lucky that they were able to meet their Great-Grandfather, Pops, before he died. We all celebrated his 92nd Birthday last November at his nursing home and there were some photos taken with he and all of the grands and great grands. Those photos will be great memories for all of us. Although we're not sure if he really understood why we were there, he enjoyed being surrounded by his family and a few bites of birthday cake. The little kids probably won't remember him - but they have pictures to remind them who he was. He was so proud that he had 7 great grandchildren.

I knew I was lucky to still have a Grandparent living at my age. Pops led a fun life over his 92 years. He was lonely in his later years - but insisted on staying in Florida for as long as he possibly could. He entered a nursing home about two years ago in Florida and was perfectly content there for a while. He then started to become more and more dependent on others and eventually moved up to Maryland to be closer to our family. His only Son, my Uncle R, lived closeby and visited him most often.

I have fond memories of visiting my Grandparents down in Florida as a kid. Pops taught us all that we know about fishing. We loved going out on his boat "Thanks Mac". He loved having his grandchildren around. We took annual trips to Marco Island for visits and we loved being there. He paraded us around and showed us off like we were celebrities. Being a realtor on Marco Island for many years, he knew lots of people - and lots of people knew him! He truly was a piece of work, as some of you who knew him can attest to. He never did know how to spell my name correctly - it always had a "y" at the end - but it never really mattered. He thought the world of us kids.

He was always extremely fit and healthy - an avid tennis player, and tennis watcher. I remember always having to watch tennis on tv as a kid with him. No fun as a kid, but something I can appreciate now. And he ate slender with bran flakes and grapefruit for breakfast every morning. Occassionally, he would slip in one of those skinny pieces of toast - dry. He always ate lots of vitamins and fell for any investment gimick that came his way.

In his later years, it was hard to see him become more frail. The man we always knew as very in shape and active was not able to get around on his own as well any more. His false teeth didn't fit quite right any more because he had lost some weight and body fat. They chattered when he talked - and sometimes even flew out of his mouth (rest assured, I'm laughing out loud as I write this).

One of my funniest memories that I share with C. and our best friends is the day that he had his teeth in his pants pocket (yes, you read that right) and when he stood up to go upstairs, he did not realize that they had fallen out. There they were, just sitting right in the middle of the couch. I looked over and we all saw them at the same time - I've never seen a group of people laugh so hard in my life. He was totally oblivious and had no idea what he had left behind. Had it been anyone but him, it would have been embarrassing. But he never cared about that stuff - he just lived his life as if he was the only on in it.

Ah, there are so many more fun and funny memories. Those of you who knew Fred, you know what a character he was. He was a fun loving, carefree, happy guy. I hated to see him suffering in his later years so knowing he's out of pain and happy again is comforting. You can bet that he's in a much happier place. Rest in peace Pops.