The Howard Family: William C. Harvey 1925-2009

This is not an easy post to write. I wanted to create this blog to share with you news about our family and unfortunately not all news is happy, so it was with great sadness that I post that my Grampa passed away last Thursday. It was a difficult weekend for the family and this past week has been very tiring for Mom. I’d like to share a few thoughts about my grandfather with all of you.

William Harvey was 84 years old, father of 6 and grandfather of 13. There are many words that can be used to label my grandfather; Valedictorian, basketball player, baseball player, farmer, tooth puller (ask my mom), Tonight Show fan, storyteller etc. But I think the best label and certainly the one that describes how I will remember him is, Gentleman. Maybe this was a benefit of being a grandchild, but I never heard Grampa lose his cool, yell and scream or swear. I have heard stories of him being upset…but they are few and far between. And when he was mad…it was a story. Grampa was patient, always listened to everyone’s updates and stories-and with 5 very talkative daughters this was quite a feat. He posed for the obligatory group photos at every occasion. I never heard him complain about much of anything…except maybe politics or some crazy comedian on SNL. This is the grandfather that I will remember. Easy going, calm, patient, polite, in short-a gentleman.

Whenever I left a visit as I hugged Grampa goodbye he always said these two words to me, “Be Good.” A great reminder that I will keep with me always.