Farewell to Someone Amazing

[Zaydok Allen]

Hey, I'm sorry for your loss guys. I lost my last Grandmother in January, and I lost my Grandfather in April..... and now I have no grandparents left at all. Sucks big time.

I just got into shooting about four years ago, and it was something I discovered my Grandfather had a huge interest in too. Sadly, his wife was afraid of guns and made him get rid of his old shotgun and his Colt .22 pistol. I could tell he wished he still had them because he was extatic that I got into guns. He managed to stash away a Remington Nylon 66, which he gave to me, and the last thing he ever gave me was a Sheridan .20 caliber single shot pellet gun that his friends gave him as a retirement gift in 1979. It's funny, but I prize that pellet gun more than any of my other guns.

I'll never forget the time I handed him my S&W 460 magnum revolver. The look on his face was priceless, and I won't repeat what he said, because it could offend some people.

Sadly I never got to go shooting with him, and that is something I'll always regret. He was to old and had had a stroke by the time I got into guns and shooting. The lack of strength in his right hand made him unsure of himself. I guess I'm just glad I got to share the joy of firearms with him for a few years at least.

God, I can still hear his voice when he was telling me about trying to shoot down German planes in WWII.

You guys aren't alone. We all miss those who have gone before us. Take it easy guys.

 

[LJ-MosinFreak-Buck]

460 I appreciate those words and thanks for sharing.

 

[LoonWulf]

Some fine stories about some fine folks, never forget that as long as we remember and tell those stories our loved ones are never trully gone.

My only grand parent who hunted was my grandfather on my mothers side and he passed while I was still quite young. He was a waterfowl hunter and used a side by side 10ga that unfortunately was stollen in his old age. It would have been nice for my uncle or even myself to have had that gun.

I do have an amusing story about my mother. She used to go " hunting" with me around our property on Molokai, honestly it was just an excuse to talk. Anyway we were tromping about, her carrying a h&r single shot 30-30 that also interchanged with a .20ga, and me with my 06. On the way back to the house a large doe Poped out of a keawe patch less the 20 ft away, mom droped a round into her gun and snaped it closed as she was bringing it up. I swear the three of us exchanged a dumbfounded look as the .30-30 shell fell right out the front of the barrel as she shouldered the gun. The deer looked at us, looked at the shell on the ground, then calmly went back into the keawe bush. We laughed so hard it hurt, and I didn't bother shooting the doe, it obviously wasn't her time LOL.

Thinking about that, or any of a half dozen things brings my mother back to me. She passed away about 5 years ago.

 

[LJ-MosinFreak-Buck]

That's an amusing story, Loon, looks like she forgot to swap barrels, lol. It's stories like this that bring smiles.

 

[LJ-MosinFreak-Buck]

I was thinking about this thread earlier today and how our firearms can bridge generations and help cultivate the bonds that we have with friends and family.

I lost my father suddenly in 2005. We were pretty close. I was 43 at the time, he was 69.

He and my Mother were divorced years ago and he was living alone at the time he died.

The day after his death, I went by his house to remove firearms and other valuables from his house just to be safe. As I moved through his place I was finding bits and pieces of his past and experiencing a lot of memories. I was finding things that I had forgotten about, but apparently he still held on to.

I got to his closet and found a cased long gun. I opened the case and there was his Browning A5. He had numerous guns but this one was special, always had been.

I was with him when he bought it back in the late 60's. I was probably 8 or 9 years old.

He explained to me how buying that shotgun was a "lifetime achievement" for him. It was the best of the best and that's what men hunted with. He told me that guns will come and guns will go, but certain guns were destined to be handed down because they were special.

This was that gun.

As I slid that gun from it's case I was overwhelmed with emotion. I experienced the cry they say you will have. I sat on the floor in that closet, a grown man, and wept like a baby. I was holding the gun that he had intended to hand down to me. I was in that moment of transition where I became the caretaker of his Browning.

I left his house with an Inland M-1 Carbine, a Winchester 1892, a BAR in .270, his Ruger 10/22 and a couple of other guns including my Grandfathers S&W 38 revolver. And the Browning.

I put that A5 in my safe, front row, center. A man's gun. Now it was my gun. Thanks, Dad.

I just want to follow-up on this post. I'm not out for attention, just thought I'd share. Today I was going through the safe (not much in there, never was) and I pulled the Marlin out. And I held it for about a half-hour or so.

The post I quoted, talking about that one big cry, well, it hit me. I knew it would come. Never knew when. Because in the bottom of the safe, and believe-you-me, I had no idea how it had gotten there, was the 1972 Silver Dollar that my Grandfather had given me one Christmas a couple years before he died. When I was a child, Grandpa showed it to me, and I had called it "The Big Penny."

For years, growing up, he'd always say that the day he passed, that the "Big Penny" would come into my possession. Well, that Christmas when he gave it to me, I broke down, thinking that it was nearing his end. Well, deep down, I knew it was coming, and apparently do did he, but I wasn't prepared for it. But he told me, and smiled, and said "I'm giving this to you now because you have made me proud, and that one day you will have Grand-babies of your own. I'm giving you this now, to keep safe, because in the event of my passing, I know there will be confusion, and after all those joyous times talking about the 'Big Penny,' my soul wouldn't rest if I'd known you hadn't have gotten it. I didn't carry that coin in my pocket for 22 years for nothing."

I found it in the bottom of my safe, and I just bawled. And it was hidden behind the Marlin. I didn't notice until I went to put the Marlin up.

I know, it's not much gun-related, but I'd figured you guys would understand.




Sent from my MP3/Hands-Free/Web-Browsing Device

 

[Robert]

LJ,
I am truly sorry for you loss but this is OT for THR.