Carry on the name!

This past week as everyone was celebrating Christmas and the life of Christ, my family was also celebrating the life of my Grandfather, Charles Merlin Preece. He passed away on December 16th from complications of surgery.

Though we all knew this day would come, it felt like it just came too soon. There was always something else we wanted to do, something else we wanted to say. However, if you procrastinate long enough, you are bound to miss out on something.

Not my Grandfather though, nope. He would never let something go till the next day, he would get up at the crack of dawn and not sleep till it was all done. Then up and at it again the next day.

We always talked about spending more time out there with him, and visiting him during the summer months. But, there was always something that would come up and we would postpone the trip to see him.

Right before he passed away, I got to spend the night in the hospital with him. Of course he wasn't alert most of the time, but you could tell he was listening. As everyone gathered around him we all said a couple things we were grateful for and the life that he lived.

One thing my Grandmother mentioned was his desire to "get that elk". He always dreamed about shooting a trophy size elk and being able to brag it up to the town of Vernal. Well this past summer, he drew out a permit to hunt in the Book Cliffs, just outside of Vernal, Utah. Needless to say, he got his trophy elk and was able to brag up a storm to the entire town, and then some.

Here he is pictured carrying the antlers of this elk, which measured a 397 on the Boone and Crockett scale.
I will miss you Grandpa, I will miss the stories, chili, sourdough pancakes, early morning wake ups, your uncontrollable laughing where you shake so hard you about fall over, but most of all I will miss the chance to talk and bond with you and have you share in the lives of my family, wife and children.

Don't worry I will make sure they know who their dad was named after and the great man that their Great Grandfather was and the legend that he left.

I love you and will miss you.

Joshua Charles Preece