My Grandpa Swensen unexpectedly passed away on April 30th. It was rough to have a him pass away totally out of the blue. Granted, he was in his 80s, but you never think that the last time you saw someone is really going to be the last time. I'm so glad it hadn't been that long since we had seen my grandparents. I'm grateful we live so much closer to family now.
One of the pros of a such a sad occasion is being able to be with family. Jennie and I drove up with my mom sans kids for a day and a half before our families joined us. It was really nice to spend time with my grandma, parents, and some aunts and uncles laughing and crying and we shared memories and stories.
My grandpa was an inspirational man to so many people. He made friends wherever he went and he was infectiously positive. Everyone who knew him has only good things to say about him. In fact, just the other day, I happened to meet a man who knew my grandpa when he was an FFA teacher in the 60s. The first thing that man told me was that my grandpa was a good guy. Definitely true. He is missed by many people.
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| Ruth with Grandma Swensen. |
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| Lydia and Ruth. |
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| Ruth and Grandpa Swensen. |
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| Ruby and Ruth. |
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| A great picture of my grandpa posted at the viewing. |
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| A picture of my sisters, cousin JoLinn, and my grandpa holding me. Love. |
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| The viewing. |
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| Angie and me talking to my Great Aunt Darlene. She is my grandpa's sister. Her husband passed away last year. She and her husband have actually been longtime friends with Brian's Hanks grandparents, which is random and cool. |
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| My sisters, my mom and me. |
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| Uncle Linden, Uncle Kirk, Grandma Swensen, Dad, Aunt GayLinn. |
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| The grands and great-grands practicing to say our ABCs backwards (Grandpa taught all of us when we were young) and sing "Families Can Be Together Forever". |
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| My grandpa served as Mayor of Ammon for a time and was also highly active in the community. He was also fiercely patriotic. The city honored him by flying flags throughout the town. It was an amazing sight. |
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| Outside my grandparents' house, Sydney, Lydia and Wes paused to say the Pledge of Allegiance. |
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| The viewing before the funeral services. |
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| Laying the flag on the casket. |
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| My dear grandma. |
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| Loading the casket into the hearse. |
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| Family all looking on. |
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| Me and Brian. As an aside, I was pregnant with Sydney when my Grandpa Smith passed away. I know my grandpas are taking care of this next little baby girl before she comes to join our family. |
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| Sydney at the cemetery. |
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| The pallbearers carrying the casket. |
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| Since my grandpa served in WWII, he had a full military program. That was really neat to be a part of. |
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| Gifting of the flag to my grandma. |
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| Family picture. |
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| Sydney. |
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| The original Swensen five. |
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| Hiley (2nd cousin), Lydia, and Sydney. |
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| Family pictures at the post-funeral luncheon. |
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| Cousins aka Grandkids. |
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| Great Grands. |
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| The Craig Swensen Family. |
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| My family. Love them. |
