Anonymous
It is with great sadness that I learned yesterday that "Grandpa Gene" had passed away. That is what my first graders called him, as did all of the Grant Watts staff. He was our special senior volunteer who brought so much to everyone in our school.
I want to share a story for his own children who I have never met. It was my last year of teaching and I was planning retirement. My own mother had just died the week before school was to start. It was a difficult start that year, but eventually my class and I found our comfort zone and we were a unit. Then a new student arrived. He had been asked to leave his previous school and was not happy to be in ours. He hid inside his hoodie, he wasn't sure what he thought of our "Grant Watts Way", and often made poor choices. I had thought I was going to coast into retirement with this nice class, but now I had this 6 year old challenge. In hindsight I believe the Lord brought us together for the good of both of us. He soon noticed that the others were getting pretty good at reading and he wanted that too.
But he needed lots of practice and that's when Grandpa Gene came to the rescue. He would come regularly to spend one-on-one time with our little friend. Not only did he learn to read but Grandpa Gene gave him grandfatherly patience and understanding and advice, and truly helped me out with a difficult but willing learner.
I saw Grandpa Gene in early December at Rose Valley and we reminisced about our Grant Watts days. He was such a loving, caring person, with class to boot. Plans were in the making to go visit him again in the new year with the previous principal who we both worked with. Unfortunately we will not be able to do that.
So to the five children of this special man I want to send my condolences. I regret that I didn't know of his passing or the services or I would have been there in person. Your father was loved by many.##imported-begin##Eira Stevens##imported-end##