Grandpa McKenzie

Wow. In post like this I want to be eloquent but if I wait for that it will never get written. So here it goes.

My Grandpa McKenzie passed away yesterday. He has been struggling with his health for a long time and went to live in the nursing home in Kinderlsey last spring. Recently he fell and broke his hip and they found they couldn't operate on it because he was just in too bad of shape. He's been on medication for the pain and yesterday he simply fell asleep.

I love my Grandpa very much, and felt close to him. He always told me when I would phone from Taiwan, "We think about you everyday" and I know he meant it. I remember when Grandpa 'got funny' when I was about 12. I'm sure he always had a good sense of humor, I just never noticed it until I was older.

Grandpa never got mad at us, ever. (Well, maybe one time when we came into the porch covered in hay...again.) When we would play in the bale stacks as we did for hours we would come in to the house with hay sticking everywhere. When the shoes came off the hay came out. Same with coats, sweaters, socks... Grandpa let me drive the truck when I was about 14 or 15, even though I could tell he was nervous he still let me. And he was so patient too. The road between my aunt and uncle's house and Grandpa and Grandma's house passed between two graneries. There was just enough room for the truck to go through, and Grandpa would make me stop driving, drive through the graneries, and then let me finish the trip. Never in a hurry, never rushing us. He loved all his grandchildren so much. My earliest rememberings hear him say how Nate was the smartest baby ever. Then that Quenten, he was really something. And when Taylor plays hockey, look out. And that Keili, she is so smart. Chayse, what a character! Look at him go. You should see that Cody, he is really something. And watching Gemma play, he'd call Grandma over, Grandma come look at this! Look at what she's doing. He was so amazed, so impressed, so in awe.

Grandpa was a hard working. He worked on the farm as long as he could, and when he couldn't he missed it terribly. My Grandpa is one of the people who built the nation of Canada, the son of immigrants who started with a small farm that grew and grew, the true Saskatchewan story. He ate lunch in the field, he drank tea from a mason jar. He drove tractor for hours and hours and days and days, form sun up to sunrise literally. Who knows how many thousands of people have eaten the wheat grown by my Grandpa? He worked so hard that he could help all of his four children with school, and give them all land, too. I often lament that I will never be able to do for Gemma what Grandpa did for his kids, and what my dad has done for us. It can't be measured.



Many of you have the privilege of knowing my dad. My dad is a wonderful, kind, and generous man, and all these wonderful qualities were in my Grandpa. They have the same voice, too, actually, all the brothers have the same low LOW rumble that makes them indistinguishable on the phone. McKenzie men are not very tall. They grow wonderful facial hair. My Grandpa forever used a shaving brush when he shaved, a process which fascinated me.

He was a good man. Always, through and through. He was a pillar in his community and one of the many who made our country strong. He gave us so much and I will miss him forever.