Gone Too Soon

Yesterday, we lost our beloved Grampy.  For almost fifteen years, he valiantly battled Myelodysplastic Syndrome and on Thursday, the disease finally won.  I've known David almost my entire life and he was someone that I deeply admired.  He was incredibly hard working - known as "Megawatt Man" to his family, because he never said no to a call from PSNH to work a power outage.  He logged more overtime than any lineman in the New Hampshire - year after year after year.  When I started working at the PSNH call center, all I had to do was mention his name and everyone smiled.  He never let them down. 
His work ethic wasn't just reserved for his profession, however - he approached everything in life with the same attitude.  He kept his beloved MG in prime condition.  He built an Austin Healey from scratch, in the days before the internet and Ebay, ordering parts from all over the country and all over the world.  He was a superior athlete, conquering not only the Boston Marathon by foot, but Mt Washington by bike.  He ran the Lowell Marathon in 2:37, a spectacular time. There was nothing that David couldn't do.  While working thousands of hours of overtime and training like a semi-professional athlete, he rarely missed any of his sons' sporting events, impressive considering that they went to high school almost an hour away.
David had very strong opinions and at times, he infuriated me with the things he said (and vice versa, I'm sure). But there is something to be said for a man who knows what he believes and makes no apologies.  When I started running distance races, he was unimpressed with my times and told me that I needed to run faster.  I was surrounded by people who told me how great I was for running a half marathon and he told me that I could do better.  A perfectionist.  That was the kind of man he was.
David was diagnosed with MDS around the time that Lee and I were married and immediately met it like any other challenge he'd faced - head on.  He received a bone marrow transplant in February of 2003 and was riding a stationary bike in his room at Dana Farber the same day - they'd never seen anything like it.  He was determined to get back to normal and for a while, he did.  The bone marrow transplant bought him a second life in more ways than one.  It gave him the gift of grandchildren and the chance to spend a lot of time with all four of them, including long visits to Arizona to spend time with Mike and his family.  Over the winter, he saw Emily score a breakaway goal against one of the toughest teams in the indoor soccer league and then watched Elizabeth play basketball.  He married his high school sweetheart more than 40 years ago and he loved her and appreciated all that she did for him.  He loved his sons and he was so proud of them.  He was proud of the men they grew up to be; the women they married; and the children they are raising.
I will miss the man I knew; the role model he was for his sons; the husband he was to his wife; the grandfather he was to our daughters.  But I am comforted by the fact that he is finally a peace, no longer held back by the limitations that MDS put on his body.  Rest in peace, Grampy.  We love you.