Richard Wayne Stafford Senior

Life around here has been anything but normal the past week and a half. My wonderful Grandfather past away on the 18th of February and I tried really hard to pull everything together before Ellie and I headed to Seattle for the funeral, but it just didn't happen. Luckily Jared picked up the slack.The funeral was on Saturday, Feb. 23 and it was wonderful. It was a celebration of his life. My sister and 3 of my cousins spoke and they each captured his life and his relationships with his grandkids perfectly. Bro. Crabtree also gave a wonderful talk about him. I just want to share 1 thing that each of them said: John remembered visiting Grandma and Grandpa from California when he was young and that every Sunday morning Grandpa would get up, get ready, grab his briefcase and walk to the North Auburn Building where he spent many, many Sunday mornings fulfilling his calling as ward clerk. Julie talked about Grandma and Grandpa always taking us grandkids camping and motorcycle riding and how Grandpa always wanted us girls to learn just like the boys. It didn't matter that we were girls. Behka talked about how everything that Grandpa did he did for his family. She told a story about when she was in HS. After one of her basketball games they came outside to find snow and super slick roads. Behka had her car there, so Grandpa told her he would follow her home (we lived about 10 minutes out of town) to make sure that she got there safely. He told her 2 things: Drive slowly, and whatever you do, DO NOT STOP!! As they were heading out Auburn Black Diamond Rd., someone had slid off the road and a few cars had stopped to help, so what does Behka do? She stops. Grandpa got out of the car, and wasn't angry, but she could tell he wasn't happy. He told her to wait in the car. She sat in the warmth of her car as she watched Grandpa chain up her car so she could get home safely. Don talked about Grandpa's frugality. One of the mottos grandpa lived by was: fix it up, wear it out, make it work or do without. He and Grandma have lived so humbly, it made me want to come home and SIMPLIFY my life. I can't do their talks justice, they were amazing, but these are just a few of the things that my Grandpa has been to me. What a Man.