In Honor & Memory....

This is one of the hardest things I have had to do in a long time.... but in honor & in memory of one of the great men in my life I ~ I want to pay tribute & take a moment to remember our dad ~ Keith.

Yesterday morning we received a phone call that we all dread...

We happened to be in Lovell, WY, about 5 hours away from home, visiting HS/College friends after traveling to Cody, WY for our son Tyler's 4th grade field trip this weekend.

We were told that Dave's Dad, Keith Young had passed away. That was one of the longest trips ever to get home.

The kids have mentioned many times that... that must be why we had so much snow & rain on our whole trip.... the angels in heaven were crying that Grandpa was going to be dying soon.. then in joking manner (of course)... another had said... no - it was probably that they knew he was going to be coming & they were crying cause now he was going to start taking over & doing all the work over there & leave them without anything to do...

He had been out on his morning run on the Green belt (one of his favorite things to do) & suffered most likely from a severe & instant heart attack/stroke & was not able to be revived. (For those who didn't know Keith he was as strong as an ox & was as healthy as they come. He took great care of his body & I think he was born running... & he instilled that in many of his kids too. He was to turn 61 in just a couple weeks.)

We are so very sad. We know that our Heavenly Father has a great plan.... it wasn't the plan we had mapped out in our minds.. yeah maybe in 20 years or so.... but not for this weekend.

Our hearts are full, we are at peace, we miss him so much already (as he hasn't been after anyone for eating in the front room or teasing all the kids!) There are so many things that you long for in your heart & realize that it is just going to take time....

Thoughts & memories:
- Dad was a work horse! Watch out cause if he was in the area the kitchen was going to be cleaned before the meal was even done, you better hurry or the table underneath you would even be put away before you had finished your last bite.
- He spent his life serving in all ways. His family, in the church, at his work, in the neighborhood, in the community.....
- One thing he took great pride in was moving each of his children - no matter how many times they moved, no matter how far the distance, no matter how much stuff (Or Junk as he called my stuff), no matter how many stairs he had to climb - he organized the move & he was the leader behind it. He worked so hard during our move & I swore to him that he would never come back & bright & early the next day he was on our door step to come help move bookshelves, boxes that got placed in the wrong rooms - etc....
- Dave's comments have been over & over that his dad had never let him skin/gut his own deer... nor anyone else's.... if Keith was with you on the hunt... watch out - he was going to do the work. He was going to skin it & pack it out for you too!
- Yard work, cleaning up the messes after any activity, dutch oven cooking - he had mastered it, catering his yummy roasts, cooking for the hayride & girls camp every year & it has been a long time since he started that.... dreaming about hunting, fishing, talking about guns, getting his "Dream truck" that he finally started driving 2 weeks ago.
- Family Reunions, he believed in being together & getting along. I don't know how many times he would give us the talk of being each other's friends & how he never wanted us to have a disagreement that kept us apart from each other. Hence our family song "No Empty Chairs at our Table" came into play 8-10 years ago & has been sang at many family gatherings since & will be sang once again this week.
- He always acted like the tough guy... but he liked to have fun too! He liked to dance, he liked to sing, he loved his family & he showed it.
- He had a rough side too.... you don't want to play basketball against him unless you want to die. If you were going to wrestle him you better hope the good Lord gave you 9 lives... cause you might not live - he was tougher than any man I have ever met in my life!
- He liked to tease the kids & make them think he was mean - which in turn made many of them cry. But he enjoyed holding anyone of them that would sit still for more than a minute. He didn't like the whole crowd coming for the weekend... but once they were all there he enjoyed it!
- He loved his sports & following his teams on the TV & radio.

Dad we will sure miss you!! The days & months ahead are going to be awfully hard, but we have faith, we have hope, we know there is a plan & we will be with you again. We love you SO MUCH!
Till then......may our Heavenly Father be with you!


Thank-you to all who have called, who have visited, who have prayed for us... we appreciate it so much - we will be in touch!
Viewing will be Thurs 6-9pm & Friday 10-noon with funeral to follow @ 1pm