Goodbye, Grandpa Duttarer…

My grandfather, Kenneth M. Duttarer, passed away on 6/14/2009 at the age of 79.  Tasha and I are in Pekin this week for his memorial service, which took place today.

For those of you that never knew my grandpa, he was a very kind and inspirational person.  In 1974, Grandpa was caught in a kiln explosion at his job in a wire factory and has been paralyzed from the waist down as long as I have been alive.

All through my childhood Grandpa would give my sister and I rides on his wheelchair, occasionally wheelies when the mood would take him.  He and my grandma would spend summers out at the campground near Pekin, so I have a lot of fun memories fishing and sitting around the campfire with them.

He was an avid woodworker as well, with his entire shop put together so he could work on projects from his chair.  The number of cool things that he built over the years number too many to list here, but his wooden bowls were his favorite projects.  Tasha and I have several of them to remember grandpa by, in addition to our handcrafted Christmas Tree Fence (used to keep the kids out of the presents!) and my workbench that he built me a few years back.

What I remember about my grandpa most is how involved he was with us grandkids.  I remember him being there for my baseball games, karate demonstrations, college move-in days, and holidays.  I remember his big smile that he’d get whenever we’d get to see his latest woodworking projects, and he would regularly spoil me with new tools to add to my own workshop.

My best memory was when Grandpa told me that he was proud of me when I graduated from college.  I always knew that he was proud of me, but that was the only time he ever told me so himself.

Today has been a pretty long, hard day but getting through it is all a part of life.  I appreciate all of the well-wishes Tasha and I have received so far from friends and coworkers, it has certainly made it easier.

I’ll miss you, Grandpa!