Goodbye Grandpa I Love You

Maurice Tunget (pictures taken on June 13, 2009)

Today we just got the news that my grandpa, Maurice Tunget passed away.

We got the call last Friday that he had suffered a stroke & then another call Saturday morning that we needed to go see him because he had another stroke in the middle of the night.

My grandpa was like a father to me & my boys. When I was first divorced, I moved to Utah to be with my family. My grandma & grandpa watched my boys for me everyday. I stayed the night with them on the weekends & would awaken to the smell of my grandpa making bran muffins & my grandma cooking oatmeal.

After eating, my grandpa would take the boys down the street to feed carrots to the horses. They adjusted their lives for my boys; swing set, swimming pool, snow sleds & suits, easter baskets, cuddling in their bed to watch Barney together. My boys were filled with the love of two of the most giving people I have ever known.

My Boys at their Grandparents

They always made plans each week to take all of us to Chuck E Cheese, my kids favorite. We took family trips up to the lake for picnics & BBQ's.

My grandpa was such an amazing, caring, selfless & loving man. He had an incredible sense of humor. Even when we headed up to Lake Arrowhead on Saturday to say our goodbyes, he was trying to mumble something & my aunt said, "Are you trying to tell a joke?" He smiled & shook his head.

While we were talking to him, he tried to respond & even laughed a little. He gripped my hand tightly when I was letting go to sit down. So I stood with him, talking & trying to be upbeat, my eyes filling with tears as I too clinged to his hand, just like I did as a little girl looking for seashells along the beach so many years ago.

His eyes were closed but he could still hear & even tried to look at us a few times. When we were leaving I told him I loved him & he mouthed back, "love you too." Elijah also told him & he was able to get it out once again.

He was ready to go home to be with the Lord & his beloved wife, Dolores. I feel so privileged to have had such a close & loving relationship with my grandpa.

Thank you for the special memories that you have given my boys & I! I love & miss you already grandpa. I know we will see each other again.

Last year visiting my Grandpa

My sisters daughter Ava & Grandpa


And THIS is how I will always remember my Grandpa, TELLING JOKES & Making Everyone Laugh!