Larry Brimhall
August 11, 1927-August 28, 2014
I remember taking this pic of Madden with his Great Grandpa Brimhall when we came home from Chicago for Madden's first Christmas in the year 2009.
(I know it looks like Beckett in the picture above, but its actually Madden when he was about the same age Beckett is right now.)
The last two times we have gone up to Snowflake (Memorial Day weekend and then again the weekend before the 4th of July), I remember Randy saying that he wanted to make sure we made it over to visit Grandma & Grandpa and brought the boys to see them because he wasn't sure how much longer his Grandpa would be around. Those last 2 visits when we saw Grandpa, you could tell he was in pretty bad shape. He wasn't getting around too well and you could just see how much he had aged in the past few years. I remember thinking of the above picture of Grandpa holding Madden as a baby and wanting to get a picture of him holding Beckett. But he was so old and shaky and frail and had such a hard time doing much of anything at all that he wasn't able to hold him.
So Grandma did instead.
I also remember during that last visit with Grandpa that he said to me, "you run any more of those marathons lately?"
And I remember being so impressed that he would remember something like that about me.
Not only because I was just 1 person in a HUMONGOUS family who didn't see him nearly as often as some of the other family members who live right by him, but I was also impressed that in his old age he would remember something like that.
He was such a sweet man.
Always happy and smiling.
Always telling stories.
Always happy to have his great-grandchildren running amok all over his house.
I don't think we ever made a visit to Grandma and Grandpa Brimhall's house when there WASN'T little kids running around all over the place.
On Friday, August 28th, just a few weeks after his 87th birthday, he had a heart attack at his home. He spent the rest of that day at the hospital, surrounded by family, but he didn't make it through the night.
The following weekend, as we gathered in a room at the church for a viewing and family prayer before his funeral services, it was pretty cool to look around the jam-packed room and see what a legacy he leaves behind.
His wife and eternal companion...
His 8 children...
His 42 grandchildren...
His 51 great-grandchildren.
He was so loved.
And he will be so missed...
He is Not Gone
Although our hearts are sad today,
For him we loved who passed away;
Yet still we know that we can say,
He is not gone.
Although we miss his presence here;
He's happy in another sphere;
And though unseens we known he's near
He's just passed on.
And now although we cannot see,
His life ahead and where he'll be;
We know he's gone where all are free,
From toil and strife
Let knowledge then erase our fears,
And wipe away our grief and tears,
For shining past these mortal years
Is lasting life.
W. Scott Barrett
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