Grandpa

Fifty years ago today, June 14, my paternal grandfather – Charles Milton Buttermore – died.  Just a couple months short of his 90th birthday

He fathered 15 children of which 14 made it to adulthood.  Of the 8 boys, 7 went to war – 6 to WWII and 1 to Korea (the oldest, Alvin, wasn’t taken as he was older and needed on the farm) – and all came home.  They all became solid citizens and successful in the world.  My father is the only one yet alive.

Grandpa farmed in north central Kansas during the terrible depression when just to eke out a living was a great success.  He sold out in 1946 and retired to town.  I only knew him as retired and tired.

He was born in 1879 and saw incredible changes in the world:

>He witnessed the first planes, cars, trains, tractors, and…

>He witnessed the birth of the telephone, television, electricity, central heat, and…

>He witnessed the change of a world of loosely connected countries to one of countries intertwined for a variety of reasons.

He died just short of Neil Armstrong walking on the moon.  What a period of time in the history of mankind! He was a strong man that was a strong force in his corner of the world.  I am yet impressed with him and very proud to be his grandson!

The fifty years since Grandpa Charles died, much has happened.

He would be shocked with:

>Technology – the internet, smart phones, wireless, computers, robots, GMO’s, and…

>Morality – much divorce, open homosexuality, live-togethers, abortion, and…

>Medicine – replacement of knees, hips, shoulders, the cancer war, heart transplants and open heart surgery, and…

>Religion – God rejected, church pushed aside, the rise of Islam, the denigration of Sunday, and…

And what about the next 50 years?  The pace of change and the pace of the replacement of God’s morality with humanism does not bode well for us even making it another 50 years.  As things are going, God will come to the end of His patience and deal, or at some point He will have to apologize to Sodom or to the world of Noah.

Thank you, Lord, for the memories and for the blessings of those who walked this terra firma before us.