Nontrivial Exercises

Even Giants Fall

My grandparents were to celebrate their sixty seventh (yes, 67th) wedding anniversary this August. There are countries that have existed for less than sixty seven years, much less marriages. This marriage ended, however, last Wednesday when my grandfather left my grandmother – and left the earth – to go to his true home.

My grandfather was a great man: He loved my grandmother, loved life, loved to laugh, loved to serve other people, loved his family, loved to tickle his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Wise in this life, he invested prudently and accumulated a vast amount of wealth. In fact, the exact value of his inheritance isn’t even known yet – and probably will not be for some time.

So wise were my grandparents in their investing and estate planning, that they have actually been able to pass along a vast amount of their wealth to their family already – without having to pay any taxes. In fact, they set-up an investment scheme that pays dividends, compounded generationally, whose principal is guaranteed and whose rate of return only grows with each passing year.

My grandparents invested in love, in faith, in service, in family. Yesterday as I watched his casket descend into the ground, I looked around. Standing around this hole in the ground were the initial returns of the investments they both had made: 1 beautiful wife of 66 years, 3 sons with their wives; representatives of 11 grandchildren, 9 of whom are married; representatives of 12 great-grandchildren. Each of these people represented many other lives that have been touched in some way by an element of love, service and goodness that we’ve been able to share – in large part because of the influence and example we’ve had from our family. None of us would have been there were it not for the investments made my my grandfather and grandmother in each of us.

Two summers ago we had a celebration of their sixty fifth wedding anniversary, and I had the opportunity to express my gratitude to them for all they had done for me. I told them that I and my cousins started life standing on the shoulders of giants, towering above most of our peers because we had a foundation of family stability, genuine love and concern for us from our parents and grandparents, and a spiritual legacy of faith in action on which to build.

Four days ago, this giant – my grandfather – fell. For us his family – his investment – sadness and grief come, but only for a time. The tinge of sadness turns quickly to admiration, gratitude, and joy as we look back on his amazing life, and forward to his current state of joy with his Saviour in his forever home, where streets are better than gold. His fall from the earth precedes his rise to everlasting life.

Thanks, Grandpa.

Robert Groves Hollingsworth

August 21, 1915 – May 4, 2005