My grandfather was a great man, and I am blessed to have been able to call him Grandpa.
I've sat down and tried to write about the loss of my grandpa quite a few times. It's hard to put into words what someone means you, but all I know is that he was a great man and will be terribly missed.
I was at home, in Chateauguay, watching the Royal wedding, when I got the news. Thanks to my friend, Shannon, I made it the five hours until Brian got home from work. That night was a blur of phone calls and travel websites. Brian and I switched around my existing plans to come home and got him a flight with me.
Saturday night, we headed to Plattsburgh to catch a red eye to Ft. Lauderdale then an early morning connection to Orlando. My dad told me that everyone would understand that I couldn't make it, but I needed to be there. So after half of day of delays, we finally made it to Orlando on Sunday afternoon.
The service was Tuesday morning. All five grandchildren spoke. They played Elvis gospel music. The Air Force Honor Guard did a flag folding ceremony and a 21 gun salute. Grandpa would have been proud.
I was grateful to be with family and to have my husband by my side.
Richard B. Sargent, otherwise known as Dick, Sarge, Dad, or Grandpa, was a great man. He was a proud and loving husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. He took pride in being a retired Military Policeman with the United States Air Force. He was an avid NASCAR fan, golf enthusiast, memorabilia collector, and picture taker. He always took advantage of an opportunity to make someone laugh. He was definitely not afraid to try new things (whether that meant climbing on top of a race hauler or just putting on a pair of roller blades). He was so many things to all that knew him, but most importantly, he was an example of how to live life to the fullest and inspired those around him to do the same.
Grandpa was a great man, and I am a better person for being his granddaughter.
