This is a picture of my Grandfather, Edwin J. Holstein, Sr. He went to be with Jesus early this morning after a long and painful battle with cancer. But, I will not remember this. I refuse to.What I will remember are my memories with him.
- I remember his love for hats. The bigger the better. No joke, he owned a took that was easily bigger than his head.
- I remember he was an avid chess player and I often found myself "playing" him in chess. I use the term playing loosely because as someone who played him often, I am fairly certain he was cheating.
- I remember that, once, he cut his knee open. Instead of going to the doctor, he simply found a needle and thread and sewed it up himself.
- I remember his love for genealogy, especially as it concerned the Chippewa half of the Holstein family.
- Everyone who knew him knew how he felt about them. He was not one to be coy or subtle. Sometimes he was brutally honest. But, I think it stemmed from his love for his family.
- I remember his love of the family get-togethers we used to have, especially the hotel parties.
- I remember his passion for Jesus and the Bible. He loved to share the story of his redemption and, ultimately, his salvation. But, he was also very honest about his past. In retrospect, it took a lot of courage on his part.
- I remember mowing his lawn on Healy St. in Romeoville, Illinois. He would pay me five dollars, a fortune at the time.
- I remember the greatest scam possibly in the history of scams! I was eleven years old, and he was bound and determined to lead me down a path with Jesus. But, with my family living in Indiana and his living in Illinois, the only time we could get together was when we visited. So, in the midst of all the chaos that comes with big family get togethers, he would take me to pizza hut. We would sit and talk about the Bible while we ate, and afterwords, he would give me five bucks. He loved to talk about the Bible, and I loved pizza, it was a win win. So whenever I would visit, I would start a conversation about Revelations, and we were off to Pizza Hut. It was because of him I chose to be baptized at thirteen. Fast forward 25 years: I have seven kids and a beautiful wife. We love our church and our family motto is Joshua 24:15 :
"And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."
As I look back, I realize...Grandpa was a scam artist alright.
I am going to miss him. But, I take comfort in the fact that he is with Jesus now. And, I have a message for him:
Good bye, Grandpa. I love you and I can't wait to see you again. I'll bring the chessboard.
A very touching tribute, Ed. I know your grandpa is proud of you. God bless.
ReplyDeleteYou do not know me Ed but your grandfather was my brother-in-law once,a long time ago,yes,he was brutuly honest,especially when it came to laughing about someone or something...oh,he could make me laugh SO hard sometimes.I sit here, in shock because i just found out here n now of his passing.I'm sorry for your loss but you will see him one day again.....I didn't know he came to find GOD,so have I.He was a good man.And tall...I remember how he used to stand,he was so tall that his hands were curled under so(as he would say,lol)as to not drag the floor.Please give my condolences to the rest of the family.Your father and mother know me well,infact,your dad still calls me Aunt Kathy,lol,when he sees me.Your grandfather was a HECK of a chess,card,horse-shoe player.If there was a compitition,he'd win it,he was that good.I rememeber going to the pow-wows with him and your grandmother,what an experience it was to see them dance(the tribe that was at Black River Falls,WI).Infact,I danced at one where they honored the wives of warriors (sevice ppl) and visiting tribe members.I still have the piece of clothe that I picked out from that honor,I cut a small piece out of it for a stole at my church.They asked if we had some material that we wanted to contribute to GOD and I thought of that Red piece of clothe.That's the only time it's ever been cut.I'm hoping that someone has contacted your dad's cousin"Angela Holstein",last I heard,she was living at her grandmothers' in Knox.He(Edwin) was her Uncle.As I said,Please give My condolences to your dad and grandmother Please(and the est of your family also).May GOD be with you in your time of need.
ReplyDeleteI love you Cousin. Thank you so much for writing that. We all are going to miss him, and I hope he is having a ball playing chess and poker whereever he may be. We will get through this as a family, and everyone can start to heal. Love you!
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