When I was a little boy, I thought nothing changed: no one would ever go away, no one would ever grow old and no one would ever die. In the innocence of youth, my world was one that would stay unchanged forever. While I long gave up such a naive view of the world, there was some truth to one of those beliefs: no one would ever die.

I did not know my father. He died when I was just a baby and all I know of him is from silent photographs and the stories told of him by my family. In twenty-four years, no one in my family has passed away. In twenty-four years I’ve never truly had to face death until now.

We are gathered here today not just to grieve the passing of Sherman Gantt, my Granpa, we are here to celebrate his very long life. Granpa was not a famous man; he wasn’t a faultless man; but he was a man.

He was a man of music and boy could he get down with a guitar. When he was not much younger than me, he and his brother WT played all over North Georgia with the Georgia Firecrackers. They traveled on the road playing at schoolhouses and on local radio stations. Granpa loved talking about those days when he was a young local celebrity with a bright future ahead of him. For myself, I must admit didn’t always like to hear him play because he played country music. As a boy, I spent most of my Saturday nights at Granny and Granpa’s to wake up and go to church the next morning. And every one of those nights Granpa would have the channel tuned to The Nashville Network. But Granpa taught me patience because I knew that if I waited long enough while watching Minnie Pearl that Granpa would begin to snore and I would assume the remote control’s mantle.

Granpa was a man of courage and joined the United States military with WT during the years of World War Two. He trained to fight and die for his country; however, while doing maneuvers off the coast of Florida in preparation for D-Day, Granpa severely injured his back. He lay in the hospital for months waiting to heal and refusing the surgery that held few promises of success. While his back gave him much pain over the years, who can say that it wasn’t a blessing when most of his unit perished on the shores of Normandy. I can’t help but think how close I came to not knowing Granpa.

Granpa was a man of deep faith and loved his Lord with all of his heart. When the family gathered on special days for dinner, we usually asked Granpa to give the blessing. Without fail, halfway through his prayer his voice would waver and his eyes would well up with tears.

Granpa was a caring man and his heart reached out to those in need. Once during Christmas, Granpa knew of a man who was very poor and had no gifts to give his children. Granpa came home and gathered his girls. He gave them two teddy bears for Christmas that year and they took one of them and a box full of food to the man’s house where his wife swept the uneven dirt floors so they could have a merrier Christmas.

Granpa most of all was a man of love. He loved his family and friends dearly and so wanted to be loved back. Sometimes when we’re feeling down, we feel nobody loves us and it’s always good to have a reminder that they do. When I was in intermediate school, Granpa got that reminder when the family threw him a surprise birthday party. My front yard was packed with cars and the house full of family, those I knew and didn’t know. When Granpa arrived next door at Aunt Helen’s having visited with his grandson Norman, he asked why there so many people at Mama’s house. When they told him they all were there to see him, he just couldn’t believe it. All these people had come to show Granpa their love for him and he was overwhelmed with emotion and that afternoon left many cherished memories for all of us there.

Most of Granpa’s love, though, was for the woman who held his heart. They met through happenstance. Granpa was just giving someone a ride to Granny’s sister’s place. Granny was asleep on the living room sofa bed when Granpa entered the room. When Granny awoke, her eyes were filled with Granpa’s face and he said, "Boy, if I wouldn’t just marry you in a minute."

It didn’t take long for Granny to fall in love with Granpa, this man of music, courage, faith, caring and love. Through six decades of marriage, they played with one another, fought with one another, cried with one another, and loved one another. Granny was Granpa’s heart and soul. When he was filled with love he gave it to her; when he was filled with pride she showed him humility; when Granpa was at his weakest, she was his strength.

Now that Granpa has passed on, we must take perspective on his life and what it tells us. Here is a man who lived 82 years. He witnessed our country grow into a world-leading nation, he saw the dawning of a new millennium and most importantly he experienced the joy and life of his family. He got to see his great-grandchildren given to him by his daughter Helen’s sons, William and Norman. He had the pleasure of watching all of his grandchildren reach their adulthood, especially Kristie, Granpa’s angel. Granpa was Kristie’s first father and he walked with her down the aisle to give her hand to her husband. When Granpa grew terribly ill, Kristie gave up her life to come and help take care of him. Her gentle hand and kind heart gave him the strength to live the last weeks of his life in peace and health. Because of her, Granpa had the strength to not waste away so he could face death proudly and with dignity.

Granpa’s daughters, Helen and Ruth, my mother. How many people can say their parents were there for them for well over half their lives? Your Daddy is proud of you and the family you helped give him. Once you looked up to him for guidance, but he looked up to you for your strength of perseverance, both of you leading lives that were difficult and trying but winning out in the end and making your Daddy proud.

I hope I’m as lucky as Granpa, to see my family grow and mature. We should all be so lucky. We should all be so blessed. We’re given just a postage stamp of time on Earth and we never get to do what always wanted to do. Nevertheless, as long as we have our essentials of love and family we can be happy with what we have and not care about the lesser things in life.

So, we say good-bye to Granpa and his wonderful life lived by a wonderful man. I will always remember Granpa best from when I was a boy when he stood so tall and strong, full of laughter, and his love of flea markets and peppermint candy. He is the first person to pass away in my life but I have long made my peace with him. Every time I was with him I enjoyed my moments with him, asking him questions about his life and the olden days.

As the sun sets on Granpa’s life, we behold the darkness of grief and loss. Yet the sun also rises and our memories will reflect its golden light. If you would please close your eyes with me right now. I would like you to think of a memory of Granpa, something he did or said or something about him that made you smile.

Now, I would like you to think about something Granpa did or said that just made you mad.

Now, think of something about Granpa that just made you fall in love with him.

These are a few of the cherished memories we hold in our hearts of this man of music, courage, faith, caring and love. His life is a small entry in the Book of Life but its significance we hold proudly and dear. Granpa will be dearly missed but never forgotten until we ourselves pass on from this world.

I love you Granpa.