Thursday, November 1, 2007
In memory of Matthew “Pa” Graybar (September 8, 1932 – October 31,
2007)
Well,
I got some really sad news this morning as I was having lunch with Nathan. My
mom called and told me that my grandfather passed away late last night. I was
shocked when she told me. I knew that he wasn’t in the best of health, but I
didn’t think that he was as sick as he apparently was. I guess he hid the worst
of his health problems from the family so that they wouldn’t worry. He always
wanted people to have a good time, and not worry about him, so he kept the
distressing details of his failing health to himself. I was told that the most
likely cause of death was heart-related. It appears, from what I understand, that he had a heart attack, and was taken into
the hospital, where they operated on him for a few hours. Not long after that,
he recovered enough to say goodbye to my grandmother, and then was gone. The
really tragic thing about this situation is that I had just recently gotten in
contact with him again after nearly 15 years of not seeing him. My grandparents
moved down to Arizona when I was about 10 or 12 or so, and I never got a chance
to go down and visit them, until just last year. I’m so glad that I persuaded
my mother to go on a vacation to Arizona last year, as it turns out that that
was my last chance to see my grandfather alive (although, of course, we didn’t
know that at the time). Yes, so just as I was getting
to know him again, he was taken from me. Life can be quite ironic and cruel at
times.
I wish that I could fly back to
the States to be with my family at this time, but unfortunately I am completely
skint and can’t afford the airfare to return. So, I
must make due with talking to my mom on the phone for comfort. I still don’t
think that the news has fully sunk in yet. I just can’t believe that he’s gone…it
seemed like he’d be alive forever. I really feel sad for my grandma right now,
as she is going to feel so lost without him. They had been married for over a
half-century, and he was in charge of all the big things. My mom, stepdad and
sister are going to fly down there soon to help her with arrangements and
taking care of documents and whatnot. I’m not sure if she’s going to end up
staying down in
Pa, as we all called him, was the
person responsible for my Indian heritage. I have been researching my ancestry
for the last couple of years, and I’m glad that I got the chance to talk to him
while I could, because he was the only person who knew the names and dates of
my Indian relatives. Though I wish that I had asked him more about our family
when I had the chance, I’ll always be grateful that he gave me the information
that he did, for I fear now that most of the stories and information has gone
with him. He was the last one in our family to be able to speak Sioux phrases,
and now I’ll never be able to learn any of them. He was also an accomplished
artist, and painted an incredible mural near the train tracks in
1932-2007