Happy 100th Birthday, Grandpa Layton!

Once upon a time when I was little, I knew a man. This man grew up in Thatcher, AZ with the Prophet Spencer W. Kimball. He served in WWII and as a Patriarch for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He raised a strong family with strong testimonies. And he is my great-grandfather. 


I remember him sitting in his chair, his big, strong hands clasped around his thick, gnarled cane. That's what I remember most about him. His hands. He was blind for as long as I knew him, and when we'd visit, he'd take my little hands in his big ones and hold them while he talked. He'd sit out in his yard for hours shelling pecans, even with his blindness.


In celebration of his 100th birthday, some of his descendants decided to each post something on our family Facebook page that they remember about Grandpa. They even asked my great-grandmother, Earline to share her thoughts. This is what she wrote:


Today especially, I am thinking of Delmar. Were he yet living, he would be 100 years old on his birthday, Sept. 10, 2011. I do not have the words to adequately express the beauty of the place that he fills in my heart and life. He has been gone from me for more that 10 years and I can still feel his arms around me and his sweet love for me. I think of him every day and night and long for the time when we can be together forever. My love, my sweetheart, my eternal companion, my Delmar. He is and always has been a good and a noble son of God. The joy that his parents had in him was always justified.


Is that not the sweetest thing you've ever read? I can't wait for the time in my life where I can have something like that. 10 years. I can't even fathom how she does it. And yet, maybe a small part of me can. I guess when she had him for as long as she did, she just can't help but know. I love having amazing people in my family. :)

          

Thanks Grandma! (And Grandpa!)