Parents of the Grand Variety

I wrote a post about Clint’s grandfather before he passed, but I never posted it. It didn’t feel right. It felt like a goodbye letter to him, and that if I posted it I was giving up on him. I never gave up on him. He was one of the most loving people I have ever met. The very first day he met me and every time he saw me from that day on, he always had a kiss and a hug for me.

During our visits to his house, in the days preceding and just after his passing, there were piles and piles of paper to go through. Stacks of Father’s day cards from past years, Thank You notes, Christmas and Birthday cards, computer printouts of jokes, some one-liners he’d written down so he could remember them. One of the things Jody handed to me was a poem. It’s a poem that I’ve read before, entitle Dash. I have copied the first 2 stanzas here – and it gives you an idea of what it’s about, for the full text, click here.

The Dash (1998)

(Original copyright 1996)

by Linda Ellis

I read of a reverend who stood to speak

at the funeral of his friend.

He referred to the dates on her tombstone

from the beginning...to the end.

He noted that first came the date of her birth

and spoke of the following date with tears,

but he said what mattered most of all

was the dash between those years.

Jim Alton Wood had a very eventful dash. I don’t know a lot of these stories, and I just found out a few in the days since his passing. I had no idea that he was on the USS Yorktown (CV-5) when it was going down. That’s a giant piece of history right there. He tried to record some of his stories for us, so that we would have some of that history.

I only came to know him in the past 9 years, and I will never forget him. His actions spoke louder than his words. He was active in his church, he never said a mean word about anyone, and in general was a very good man. Clinton and I had hoped that Landon would get to know him, and he’d have same the influence he had over Clinton. Though, I have no doubt in my mind that he is in heaven watching over.

He will be missed.

Jim Alton Wood (January 1, 1923 - June 21, 2006)