My Grandfather or “ Grandpap” as they say in Pittsburg., Was born to Jacob  and Margret Newman on January 17, 1924. He was the youngest of five children and  took the nickname “Pete” for being the runt. He came from a naturally warm and compassionate family, he adored his mother and respected his father. I could always see the influence his mother had on him, even as an older man, he always held women a little higher than the rest. This was her doing.
     My Grandpap enlisted in the United States Army ,as his older brothers had done before him. He severed his country with immense pride and was well decorated for his honor, courage and bravery with  oak leaf cluster, bronze star and purple heart. By the grace of God he and both of his brothers returned unharmed.
     Early in 1946, he met a beautiful 16 year old Bohemian girl, my grandmother, Nancy Ruth Doerfler . They married the following year and the same year started their family. My Grandfather loved my grandmother in the worst way, for 63 years she was the center of his world.  I often watched the way  looked at my grandmother and I would imagine that it was the same look of  pure love and utmost respect that his  father gave his mother. Sadly in 2009, my  Grandmother passed away unexpectedly.  His heart would never mend. I spent months with him ,as he didn’t like to be alone( understandably so), and the hours we spent connecting on a totally different level , those are times I will treasure for all of my days.  Unfortunately, no matter how many ball games we watched or how many times I would repeat the same movie  while he would drift off in his chair just as the credits would role, he would never recover. And oh how his family tried to bring him back…..On New Years Eve, 2011, we all gathered around his bed ,as the sound from the oxygen machine  in the corner made an imprint on my memory  that I cannot shake, and we stood with the priest as he preformed my Grandfathers last rights and I could almost see the weight lift off of him, he slept peacefully and soundly and in the first hours of January 2, 2011 we all were fortunate enough to say to him what we never got the chance to say to my Grandmother, we got to say, Thank you for your love, see you soon…

     My Grandpap was so easy to love, if you knew him it was to adore him, and with him he took some of my heart  with him but at the same time he left some of his with me…..