So, I found out today that my Grandpa passed away, and I thought I would write some of the unique things that I remember about him.

Where should I start?  Maybe I should start by saying that my grandpa lived such an interesting life, nobody seems to know everything that he did.  I'm just going to write the things that come to my mind.

So, one of the most epic stories I can remember happened during WWII.  When becoming involved with the NAVY he told them that he was older than he was (he was 16 years old when he joined).  When he was in the NAVY, he was a "frogman" (the equivalent to a NAVY Seal today), and particularly he was involved with the UDT (under water demolition team - he disarmed bombs in the ocean, and stuff).  So, one time he was under water, working on disarming a bomb for a mission when he came to a nasty realization - while he was under the water doing his thing, his ship had left without him!!  So, he ended up floating in the Pacific for 4 days and 3 nights until a friendly ship came and got him.  He said he was praying the whole time, and tried to sleep while laying back on the water, but he said it was one of the scariest times of his life.

Epic Story #2 - One night when coming back from a business trip, he saved a girl from being raped in the airport parking lot.  Having been a "navy seal", raised on a farm for a portion of his life, he had become quite the strong man.  So, at this time he was in his prime, (about 35 if I remember right) and could take almost anyone in a fight.  So, as he was walking through the parking lot (at about 3 am) he noticed a woman and a man (the woman's fiance) struggling with a group of sketchy-looking guys.  Anyways, the guys were on drugs, and were intent on raping the woman and leaving the man to die after beating him to a pulp - my grandpa had a different plan...when all was said and done he had single-handedly fended off all of the guys (there were about 5 if I remember right) and hospitalized a few of them.  I don't remember all of the details, but I remember he slammed the car door into one of the guys ribs - causing them to break pretty nicely.  I am watering this down a lot (for the sake of public reading), but suffice it to say that some ended up in the hospital, and the others ran away.
     So, it's funny how things work out sometimes...after the police had set up a court date (that was intended to civilly settle all of the details of the situation) an interesting thing happened.  The judge just so happened to be the grandfather of the girl whom my grandpa had saved - so needless to say, there wasn't much of a court-case.

There are a billion stories from/about my grandpa, but suffice it to say that he was a stud.

He majored in mechanical engineering at BYU, and then (as if that wasn't good enough) he later went back to school at Texas A&M and got a degree in electrical engineering (no big deal right?).  He worked in many different environments, had pretty much every job there is (ish), had about the whole gamut of typical church callings, from being in bishoprics to working in the temple, but the things I am grateful for the most are the things that I will always have with me - the knowledge that that man gave to me, nobody can take away.  He spurred the inner-scientist in me and he showed me how to serve others, and for those things I will always be grateful.

-Spencer-