Today would have been my Grandpa's 91st birthday. He died almost six years ago. My Grandpa was my hero growing up and even in my adult life. He was a veteran of World War II and told us so many stories of his years of service. I was always in awe of these adventures. The way he told the stories, I felt like I was there. My brother felt the same way. We spent hours in his garage, watching him feed the squirrels, fixing or building something, and always absorbing all of the memories that made up his life. He taught us many things as we sat on the stool patiently watching and listening.
What I miss the most about CrapPa (my nickname for him as I couldn't stay Grandpa as a toddler), however, is the constant teasing I would get from him. He called every boy I ever liked Efram - "How's Efram today? Where are you and Efram going", etc. Once I met the man for me, he dropped the teasing about my love life and moved on to our choice of college. If I needed help or Doug couldn't figure out the problem with one of his tools, we would get all of the help CrapPa had to give, as long as we admitted that a Purdue grad would have had no problem with our dilemma.
My Grandpa fought a good fight against the cancer that ravaged his body the last six months of his life. I was never more proud to be his Granddaughter than those days. He gave it all that he had and was always in a great mood when the Heinisch family would visit. I think of him often and have so many questions I would still love to ask him. For now I have great memories and stories to share with my own children.
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