My Grandpa

Today while talking with one of my friends, (Natalie) I began talking about my Grandpa, Lloyd Williams. I shared with her a couple of my fondest memories of my Grandpa. It was 18 years ago that my grandpa left us and had a happy reunion with Grandma, 3 children and his parents.

Many of you were not fortunate enough to know my grandpa, but he had a great influence in my life. We lived just a few blocks from grandpa so it was easy to stop by and visit him. It was also easy for him to come by our house. I want to tell you a couple things about my grandpa. One of his favorite treats to do was to call someone (one of his grandchildren or daughters) and say "Let's go get a hamburger". Within a couple minutes his familiar green truck would be at the door waiting for us. His drive-in of choice was "Vard's" directly North of the Nephi City Park. He would always order his hamburger the same way and the girls working at Vard's would place the order as "A Hamburger for Grandpa". Sometimes he would get a couple hamburgers a day--with someone different each time. He just wanted to spend the time with his family.

Grandpa loved to go deer hunting. Often times on the Monday after the hunt opened (In Nephi it was called Harvest Recess) Grandpa would pick me up and take me hunting. It was never early enough in the morning to really see anything, but that didn't matter to Grandpa. He was just happy to be out and about.

For as long as I can remember my Grandpa kept an immaculate garden. Rows of carrots, corn, and peas. I don't think grandpa ever got to keep any of his peas, they were always raided by his well-meaning family. I still crave the crispness of grandpa's fresh garden peas.

My grandpa was probably the nicest person I knew. He would do anything for anyone. If you were down on your luck he would give you the last dollar out of his wallet, even if it meant he had to go without.

It's funny. Sometimes as a teenager I thought for certain spending time with my friends was more important than spending time with my family. I guess, I kind of always thought they would be around. Well, it has been 18 years since I last spoke with my grandpa and I miss him. What I wouldn't do, to just be able to give him one more hug.