diavolo

My grandpa was born June 11th of 1931 and passed December 1st of 2010. He was a husband, father, grandfather as well as a great grandfather to my son. Additionally, he was a veteran of the Korean conflict and a 32nd degree Mason. Fishing, golfing and spending time with his family were amongst his favorite past times.

I have an infinite amount of memories from my grandpa but I have a few favorites that I’d like to share.

When I was maybe four or five years old, Grandpa started teaching me how to swing a golf club. He took an old driver that he had and cut it down to little-guy size for me. We went into his back yard and he gave me a few balls to hit. He showed me the basics of how to swing and let me take it from there. I whiffed the first few swings which made Grandpa chuckle and me get mad. The next attempt I made sent a Titleist sailing into the neighbors yard narrowly missing a window. Grandpa promptly took my new driver away and he decided we had better go to the range after that.

I had gone fishing with Grandpa ever since I could walk and that was my favorite thing in the world to do with him. We had gone charter fishing for Walleye at Lake Erie several times and one year we went with a group of his buddies. We had a little contest going to see who could catch the biggest fish. There was no prize, just the pride of the biggest catch and bragging rights for the day along with some good eats. After about six hours, we came back to port and took inventory of the days catch. Low and behold, out of all the guys that went, I caught the biggest fish. Or so I was told… I don’t know if I really did or if Grandpa told me I did to make me happy but either way, the smile on his face is one I’ll always remember.

Finally, the last thing I want to say would probably make him the happiest. When I knew that his great grandchild was going to be a baby boy, I knew I had to pay him a visit. We were sitting in the kitchen casually talking as we often did when I told him I was going to have a son. He asked if I knew what the name would be and I said I did. Grandpa asked what it would be so I looked him square in the eye and simply said “Bailey”. He had a puzzled look on his face and I then told him his great grandson was going to be named after him. God love my grandpa, all he could say in response was “why?” I can’t remember exactly how I explained it but I had made a promise to myself ever since I knew I wanted children that if I ever had a son, he was going to be named after Grandpa. He was never fond of the name Bailey but I think his feelings on the subject changed once I told him that. He lit up every time he saw little Bailey and he always called him “Bailey the Great”.

My Grandpa means more to me than I can ever express and anything I can do to honor him means everything to me. He always said that I had a lot of Ray Clark in me. I never really understood that until I realized that the way I am with my son is the same way he was with me. My grandpa is the most amazing man I’ve known in my life and he will carry on through me and his great grandson.