2007-11-02 My Grandpa

I’m proud to be the oldest granddaughter of Chuck Hard.

He was born in Chicago on October 19, 1917 and moved to Aurora with his family at the age of 5. . He attended East Aurora schools including East Aurora High School in the building that is now K.D. Waldo, where my brother and I went to junior high. One day he was lectured in the principal’s office after having been spotted riding a motorcycle with his friend, Fritz Erb, when he should have been in school. He was told that if he wasn’t serious about his education, there was the door. He called their bluff and quit school right then and there, never to return. This was during the Depression and his family was in debt, so he went to work to support his mother and sisters.

He and my grandma were married in 1940. They celebrated many happy family occasions and sent out annual Christmas card photos. Their family enjoyed fishing, boating, and water-skiing on vacations to Wolf Lake in Michigan. The family grew to include four children and spouses, thirteen grandchildren, and fifteen great-grandchildren with another on the way. Sadly, my grandmother didn’t live to see the youngest of her grandchildren.

In 1977 my grandparents moved to Florida where they enjoyed the warm weather and living near their daughter’s family. Family frequently visited them there and they came for long visits to Illinois every summer and Christmas. Grandpa continued making the twice yearly trips until Christmas of 2004, after which a downturn in his health made traveling difficult.

Family was at all times Grandpa’s top priority. He took an active part in his children’s lives and enjoyed keeping up with all that was going on with everyone over the years. He had a joke or witty saying for every situation. He was well-liked by all and kept up correspondence with many over the years. He took pleasure in both the successes and the day-to-day lives of his family. He always had a smile on his face and was always willing to lend a hand. He was an active member in several social clubs over the years and at church.

Music was always one of his great loves. He played in the school band as a youngster and as an adult he was active for several years in the parents’ group for the Vaqueros Drum and Bugle Corps. He loved to play the organ and in retirement still enjoyed attending dances and listening to bands. In later years he loved to hear music performed by his great-grandchildren. He was unable to attend most of their concerts, so we sent the concerts to him in the form of CDs and video.

My family visited Grandpa during our Florida trip this past August. We took lots of pictures and when we left we all said our good-byes and I-love-yous and we’ll see you in two months for your 90th birthday party.

The mid-October birthday trip was fun to plan. I hadn’t seen my grandpa on his birthday since he moved to Florida and it was to be the first time I traveled with only my parents and brother in over twenty years. Several others made plans to attend the October 20 party as well. I began working on a column in honor of Grandpa for his birthday gift.

A few weeks before his birthday Grandpa wound up in the hospital on a ventilator for a couple days. We prayed and received a miracle. He woke up and was taken off the machines and moved out of the hospital. I was ecstatic when I heard that he’d spoken on the phone to my dad.

However, this party was not to be. The man we had known and loved for our entire lives passed on to eternity on October 12. Instead of packing, we spent the week prior to his birthday attending to arrangements, greeting friends and family at his wake, and getting through the funeral. I had my first experience with obituary-writing. My daughter Kathy played the violin before the funeral service. My son Jonathan loves to sing but knew he would be unable to do so at the funeral. Early that morning his concert choir at Granger Middle School recorded the song they’d been working on and it was played during the service. The song was “Come to Me, My Love.”

That Friday Grandpa would have turned 90. Several of us celebrated his life that evening with a party at Gario’s. My brother read a prayer written by my son, we sang “Happy Birthday” and we had pizza, cake, and drinks. This was a fitting tribute that Grandpa would have appreciated.

Our lives are all the richer for having known him, and I will always miss him.