My grandfather, J. Harvey Tanner (he went by Harvey most of his adult life), was born November 6th, 1916 in Burlington, WY. He was the 12th of 13 children. He was a well-educated man, receiving his bachelors from the University of Wyoming and his masters from Utah State University. He made a living teaching school alongside his wife, Wamoth, in Wyoming, Idaho, Arizona, and Brigham City. He served in WWII with the Pacific Naval Contractors rebuilding Pearl Harbor and then with the Navy Fleet Hospital Unit in Guam.
He and my grandmother had five children; one boy and four girls. They raised them in Brigham City, Utah where he lived with my Grandma until she passed away in 1990. He continued to live in their home until 1997, when he married his second wife, Germaine. They then moved to Perry, Utah.
On Thursday, January 29th my Grandpa was released from this earthly life and was reunited with his eternal companion and many other loved ones, including my older brother Nathan. He was 92 years old.
My Grandpa is one of the greatest men I have ever met. I had the great privilege of living only an hour from him most of my life. Some of my most treasured memories involve going to his house and splashing in his flood irrigation water. In his basement he had a giant chest freezer that always had big buckets of Farr's ice cream, which of course he allowed us to eat at will. :) He was always happy and joking with us - one of his favorite things to do was sing silly little songs that would get stuck in my head for days afterward.
He raised a great family including someone who I hold in the highest esteem - my father, Harvey. It is amazing the legacy one man can leave behind him. I am so grateful for the life he lived and the way he raised his son so that I could be born into the Gospel and be surrounded by the most incredible parents and siblings a person could ask for.
I will miss him dearly, but a part of him will live on in each of us. Thank you, Grandpa, for everything. God be with you til we meet again.
4 comments:
hey Jill, I love your comments about Grandpa. He truly is a great man and will be missed. But you are right, we will see him again.
Jill,
You wrote a bery beautiful salute to our Grandfather. I miss him, but the knowledge of the Plan of Salvation has trully helped me through this.
Thanks for sharing such beautiful and truthful words about such a loved man!
Love ya sweetie!!
Jill
You are AMAZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZING and what you said about Gpa and Gma and Nathan is awesome. We will have to just have a cousin party sometime after your baby comes and Nick's too and maybe we can get Mandee to come too. We can have it here and BBQ
So good, Jill. Some of my favorite childhood memories are irrigation on our lawn and fields. Because of that I love snakes.
Susan Andersen
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