This is the talk that Andy gave at the funeral:Over the past eleven or so years, I have had the privilege of knowing and being around Ernie Sehon. And since I married one of his granddaughters, naturally, the role that I usually got to watch him play was that of a granddad. And he was a good one. Grandfathers are special, aren’t they? I mean, when I think of a granddad, some of the things that I picture are someone that’s fun-loving, someone that’s ready with a smile and a joke, someone who is wise, someone who thinks his grandkids hung the moon. And so it was neat to get to hear some of the stories and memories that Ernie’s granddaughters, Summer and Maresa, shared about their Papa. Because they fit right into that image.
One of the first things they talked about was how they loved Saturday mornings when they would get to go to the airport with their Papa to wash his plane. And inevitably, he would end up taking them for a ride. They said that they specifically loved how he would fly them to Tecumseh where their other grandparents lived and they would have called them ahead of time and told them to come outside and wave to them as the plane flew over their house.
They remembered how they would hope and pray for it to snow in the winters so that Papa would take them sledding. He would make them a special sled and hook it to the back of his tractor and drag them around at a pretty good clip and they loved bouncing and flying around on that sled. Ernie did the same thing for his great granddaughter Mia last year and she absolutely loved it. He was a fun granddad – like granddad’s ought to be.
Summer remembers when she was about 10, she got on a kick where she kept talking about how she wanted a “real job” so she could make some real money. And she kept trying to persuade her dad and her Papa to hire her on at the office. So finally, Ernie did just that. He told Summer that he had a special job for her that paid really well. And that’s what started Summer on a career path of dusting chair legs. He made it sound like the most important thing in the world that all of those chair legs in the office had to be dusted properly. And so they were – Summer was proud to dust them because her Papa had made her feel like she was playing such a special part in the work of the office.
Summer and Maresa also remembered a discussion they had one time with their Papa where they were all trying to decide what they would do if they won a million dollars. The girls were pretty young and to them, a swimming pool or the most popular toys at the time were the no-brainer answers to that question. When it was Papa’s turn to answer, they were sure he would say that he was going to buy them new cars or something like that, but instead he said that he would give half of the money to his church and half of it to theirs. And that response has stuck with them for all of these years. He was a wise granddad; a granddad who knew what was important and what should come first in his life.
And like granddads should, Ernie was a Papa who thought his grandkids hung the moon. Summer and Maresa remember how much he loved to hear them sing and how he would always come to their choir performances. And I’ll just say that I’ve seen firsthand the smile and the look in his eye when his grandkids or greatgrandkids walked in the room. It’s a look you can’t fake. It was sincere adoration and love. From a sincere and loving man.
One of the first things they talked about was how they loved Saturday mornings when they would get to go to the airport with their Papa to wash his plane. And inevitably, he would end up taking them for a ride. They said that they specifically loved how he would fly them to Tecumseh where their other grandparents lived and they would have called them ahead of time and told them to come outside and wave to them as the plane flew over their house.
They remembered how they would hope and pray for it to snow in the winters so that Papa would take them sledding. He would make them a special sled and hook it to the back of his tractor and drag them around at a pretty good clip and they loved bouncing and flying around on that sled. Ernie did the same thing for his great granddaughter Mia last year and she absolutely loved it. He was a fun granddad – like granddad’s ought to be.
Summer remembers when she was about 10, she got on a kick where she kept talking about how she wanted a “real job” so she could make some real money. And she kept trying to persuade her dad and her Papa to hire her on at the office. So finally, Ernie did just that. He told Summer that he had a special job for her that paid really well. And that’s what started Summer on a career path of dusting chair legs. He made it sound like the most important thing in the world that all of those chair legs in the office had to be dusted properly. And so they were – Summer was proud to dust them because her Papa had made her feel like she was playing such a special part in the work of the office.
Summer and Maresa also remembered a discussion they had one time with their Papa where they were all trying to decide what they would do if they won a million dollars. The girls were pretty young and to them, a swimming pool or the most popular toys at the time were the no-brainer answers to that question. When it was Papa’s turn to answer, they were sure he would say that he was going to buy them new cars or something like that, but instead he said that he would give half of the money to his church and half of it to theirs. And that response has stuck with them for all of these years. He was a wise granddad; a granddad who knew what was important and what should come first in his life.
And like granddads should, Ernie was a Papa who thought his grandkids hung the moon. Summer and Maresa remember how much he loved to hear them sing and how he would always come to their choir performances. And I’ll just say that I’ve seen firsthand the smile and the look in his eye when his grandkids or greatgrandkids walked in the room. It’s a look you can’t fake. It was sincere adoration and love. From a sincere and loving man.
1 comment:
he sounds like a wonderful man. I am sure you will have lots of memories like those to share with Mia as she gets older.
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