Grandpa DeVar

this is the image i will always have in my mind when i think of Grandpa DeVar. he is feeding one of the squirrels he tamed at the mine. when i think back to my childhood, some of my favorite memories are of grandpa teaching me how to play new card games at his formica kitchen table. we played crazy 8s, kings-in-the-corners, blackjack, poker, and even war. and i loved easter, when he would pull out the giant jar of coins he had been collecting all year long and just start tossing change up into the air as all the grandkids scrambled to collect it all from the lawn. i remember sitting and listening to him tell stories about the mines, the blm, the moki digs, the "damned government," and all of the wild things his own children had done. he would fill old bottles with the greatest homemade root beer, and fill the kitchen table with a plethora of goodies he grew in his own garden. anytime i couldn't find him to play cards, i knew to check one of 3 places, either the "stove room" where he would be stoking up the wood burning stove to heat the entire house, the "jerky room" where he would be hanging up the freshly seasoned venison to dry us some tasty jerky, or in the back yard swinging a ginormous axe, chopping even more wood for the fire. he always tried to trip me, every time i walked past him in the living room, he always gave me "bonkles" on my forehead, he sometimes called me "nelle," occasionally called me "DAN-elle," but usually called me "varmint." he always had a nice cold pepsi, mtn. dew, or shasta cola to offer me, and i always got a hug before i left his house. i got to see him the first week of october...he was so frail, but he still gave me a smile when i walked into his room. i had a feeling it would be the last time i saw him...in this life. i started to get a little choked up, so i cut my visit short. i really wish i wouldn't have. i'm so glad i have all of these better memories to call on. he lost his fight with cancer on thanksgiving night, after spending the day with so many loved ones. there are times when people say to me, "you are such a shumway!" i know. i'm lucky that way. because as i like to say, "there are two ways to do things in life, either the wrong way or the shumway." thanks for such a great legacy grandpa! love ya!