Jack R Blackham, Nov. 4, 1925 - Sept. 24, 2011

After 6 long weeks in the hospital trying to fight off complication after complication from gall bladder surgery, Jason's grandfather, Jack, passed away.  We spent a lot of time the last few weeks driving to and from Orem to visit him, many times wondering if it would be the last.  Other times we were hopeful he was on the mend.  We felt fortunate to visit him one last time the week he passed away so that we could tell him goodbye.  He was alert and as always, happy to see the children.  In fact, as his condition was worsening and they wanted to transfer him back to the ICU he refused because he wanted to be able to see the great-grandchildren.  It wasn't until a day or so after his death when we realized the significance of the date.  Grandpa died on the anniversary of the day he was sealed for time and all eternity to his wife and three children in the Manti Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

In the days following, the family gathered at Grandma's house.  We had a lot of laughs going through Grandpa's things.  Grandpa loved to collect things.  He had a basement full of trains that the kids always loved having him run for them when they visited!  After living through the Great Depression, Grandpa hated to throw things away.  We opened up his desk drawer and found it crammed full of pencils; some had been sharpened so many times they were too short to write with!  There was also a whole bucket full of pens that were broken. Grandpa always had pens in his pocket and often wore pocket protectors.  Although he would never let anyone borrow his pens; they were too special!  We found 15 pocket protectors full of pens in his desk !  I'm not sure if Grandpa would have appereciated everyone going through his things.  Jason said he kept hearing Grandpa's voice in his head, "Jason, stop snooping!"  Regardless of what he would have thought each of his sons and grandsons wore one of his pocket protectors full of pens to the funeral as a tribute!

Each of the sons, grandsons, and even some of the great-grandsons, wore one of Grandpa's ties.

After the funeral all of Grandpa's baseball caps were brought out and each of the great-grandchildren got to pick one.

I wanted to write a tribute to the man I have come to know and love the last 15 years but I thought it would be more fitting to come from one of those who knew him best.  With Jason's permission, I'll share some of his words from a paper he wrote for his 10th grade English class titled, "Fishing with Grandpa."

"Grandpa loved baseball!"  In Grandpa's own words, "My favorite pass time is playing baseball.  Everywhere there was an open field, road, or flat wash we'd play ball.  We basically taught ourselves how to play.  One of my best summers was in 1950.  Our ward's softball team placed 8th in all the Church.  It was fast pitch that's all we knew back then, none of this slow pitch junk."    Jason says, "When I was a kid, I would spend the night at Grandpa's.  After my family left, Grandpa and I played catch with his old baseball gloves.  Dad and Grandpa took us to watch the Salt Lake Gulls and Salt Lake Trappers at Derk's Field.  Dad and Grandpa taught me how to keep a scorecard."  As Uncle Darrell said in his talk at the funeral, "The New York Yankees just lost their biggest fan."

A Salt Lake Stingers game in 2002

Grandpa served in World War II.  His words were, "My mom had to pick up my high school diploma because I was training.  I served for 28 months including basic training.  I hated it.  We went on 25-mile hikes in the rain, climbed through barbwire, shot rifles, ect.  I was the company clerk in the engineer unit and a corporal rifleman in the infantry.  In a raid, we lay in a field overnight and through the day with bullet fire all around.  An armor unit was supposed to get us out but never showed.  The Germans had us pinned down until night when we were able to get out.  Several of my best friends were killed by my side.  On the boat ride to and from Europe, I was very seasick.  We were on it for seven days.  The greatest part was seeing the Statue of Liberty as we sailed into New York.  It brought tears to my eyes because I had survived."

Grandpa's family was everything to him.  His words were, "I first met Elna Christensen when I was riding in a car with my friend.  We saw his girl friend and her, and stopped to pick them up.  We were married in Elko, Nevada on April 30, 1949.  (They were married for 62 years!)  I can remember picking up her wedding ring in Salt Lake.  I was so excited that I ran into a snow bank and bent my watch up."  Grandpa loved his grandkids and they adored him.

Jason and his siblings at the viewing: Vance, Eric, Melanie, and Brian

Jason and I remarked that it is miraculous how many times his grandpa's life was spared both in the war and afterwards.  Grandpa said, "I was digging and putting in a sewer line in Helper by putting pipes together.  After lunch, I went back into the tunnel and continued working.  Someone yelled, "Look out!"  and all of a sudden, the tunnel was caving in.  I stuck my head by a large rock where no dirt was falling down.  I was very scared and prayed hard.  I yelled for them to put a pipe through behind me so I could breathe.  I was buried for twenty minutes."  The Salt Lake Tribune said, "Mr. Blackham was buried completely, with three feet of dirt over his head." Years later "I was working at Bunker's and was blown off the silo.  Both my legs were broken.  I was hobbling around the house and wanted to soak in a hot tub.  A neighbor called Elna wanting to know why I was hobbling around.  She took me to the hospital even though I didn't want to go."

Grandpa loved to tease. Jason said, "Fishing with Granpa held a special opportunity for me.  Fishing with him became an adventure.  We didn't care if we didn't catch any fish, yet most of the time we did.  Fishing allowed time to talk, relax, enjoy nature, and enjoy each other.  Indeed fishing with Grandpa was joyful.  I learned more about him as a person, not just as my grandpa.  I could see the vibrant youth coming alive again.  I loved going fishing with Grandpa where we could be alone in nature and forget everything else.  Grandpa teased me when I used flies and spinners.  He was a bait fisherman.  Still, all my life I could just go fishing with Grandpa.  I just had to convince him to tease the fish more than me."

Our hearts ache thinking about how much we will miss Grandpa.  However, we are comforted by the knowledge that through Jesus Christ, death is not the end.  We will see Grandpa again.