On Saturday at around 4 a.m. my grandfather, Roy Wayne Blevins, passed away in a hospital in Aurora, CO. He was 89 years old.
We knew he was in grave condition in the hours leading up to his death and this was extremely hard for me as I was 1,000 miles away in Texas and had my dad and stepmom with me. It was the night before I was leaving Austin to move back home to Colorado. The main reason - to be able to spend more time with family, especially my grandparents. I never got that extra time I was hoping for with my Grandpa but nonetheless a big part of who I am is because of the kind of man he was. This blog titled "Roy to the World" is about the man he was as a husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather, uncle, cousin and friend in the 32 years I was able to be around him.
I have so many fond memories of my grandfather and it would take forever to describe all of them but hopefully these few short stories will help sum up my feelings.
On the exterior he could come across rough to people who didn't know him. He had a tendency to speak his mind no matter what the situation. He did not like being around big crowds of people and was not much of a socializer. One of the funniest stories was he was sitting on a bench in the mall and a lady asked him to move because the bench was reserved for the children who were waiting to see Santa Claus. My grandpa abruptly replied "you can kiss my ass!" While that was him being honest in that situation, for most of the time he was as caring as could be.
There were numerous people throughout the years that he helped out. Despite being in his 60's and 70's he would shovel snow for the elderly neighbors next door, fix things at their house, take care of animals, take them goodies my grandma made and pretty much do anything to help them out. I saw him do this extensively with the Oldhams, Ms. Poole and his brother Bruce who was never in good shape after surviving a plane crash. He never accepted anything in return. He was just doing what he thought was the right thing to do. This is something I have seen a lot from my dad and grandma as well and led me to volunteer my time at Children's Hospitals.
He was also a very loving husband to my grandma Juanita. The two were just a few weeks from celebrating their 66th anniversary. That is an unreachable number for my generation with so many people rushing into marriage for a variety of different reasons and then divorcing at the slightest sign of trouble. My grandparents loved each other and made it work even though things weren't always perfect. Some examples of this love is my grandpa telling my grandma she was still pretty after all those years in the hospital last week. He set aside some money without her knowing about it in case he passed away first so that she would be taken care of financially. He also taught me manners and how to treat a lady. One time we were walking down the street in a neighboring town of their home and he told me "When you are walking on the sidewalk with your girlfriend or wife you should always walk closest to the street." I asked why and he said "If a car drives by and splashes a puddle then her pretty little dress wouldn't get ruined." I have never to this day heard anybody else talk about doing this but my grandma says he always walked closest to the street in the 65 years they were married.
When I was little and with my grandparents, I always wanted to be with my grandpa no matter what he was doing. He was very smart and really interested in finding out how things worked so he would tear apart fans, clocks and other things to try and fix them if they were broken. I had no clue what was happening but I would stand by him in his shop the entire time and watch him. If he was laying on the carpet taking a nap, I would lay down next to him. When he was working as a locksmith I would go spend an afternoon with him at work and watch him make keys. I am not a cowboy at all but my grandpa loved watching western movies and it made me as happy as can be to this day to sit with him and watch westerns because all I wanted to do was be with him.
Camping trips were some of my favorite times with my grandpa and dad. We would find sticks and turn them into walking sticks. My grandpa would make toast and jelly on the camping stove which I still love to make at home. He always tried to scare us or probably warn us about bears in the mountains. The best memory I have is when it was just me and my grandma and grandpa and we went to a cabin on a lake. We were sitting outside on the porch steps and he taught me how to play the game mumbley peg. It is a simple game played with a pocket knife but I loved playing it with him and I probably asked him to play that entire trip after he showed me.
Growing up I loved sports. Most of my family was not really into it very much but my grandpa liked to watch football, especially the Broncos, with me. He would also go in to the backyard and play with me as much as he could. He would throw the football to me and let me make diving catches or hit pop flys with a wiffle ball bat so I could pretend like I was an outfielder. I didn't have any brothers but my grandpa would always come out and play with me in the yard.
With my grandpa passing at this time of year it is especially tough because he loved Christmas. He always told me that the two of us were going to try and catch Santa Claus when he showed up at the house. We slept next to the tree the night before Christmas with cookies as bait. Although sometimes I would wake up in the middle of the night and think I heard something we never did catch him but it was something we did for a long time. My grandpa really loved opening gifts too. He would shake and rattle them to try and guess what he was getting. He never really wanted much but he sure did love anything he got. I don't know how Christmas is going to be without him but it just won't be the same that is for sure.
My grandpa enjoyed drinking his coffee, old instrumental music (he did not like music with people singing), reading and watching westerns, having a nice yard, a good chocolate milkshake, building and fixing things in his shop, the local news, my grandma's cooking (like me he loved pancakes) and helping out neighbors and family. For anybody who knew my grandpa like I did, he was one of the sweetest, most caring men there is and will be greatly missed.
