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Tribute to Glen Amos Anderson

Glen Amos Anderson

1/27/1922  –  2/10/2015

 

Glen Amos Anderson as a young boy

My name is Erin Anderson and Glen is my grandfather.

I’ll start by sharing a little about grandpa’s life… He was dearly loved by his wife and best friend (Margie), his three boys; Roger (wife Mary), Danny, and Rick (wife Kandi), 8 grandchildren, 21 great-grandchildren and 3 great-great grandchildren. He was born on Jan. 27, 1922 to John Amos and Lydia Matson Anderson in Mt. Pleasant, Utah. He spent most of his younger life in Stockton, Utah where he met and married, Margie Arntt, on Sept 10, 1942 in Pocatello, Idaho. He is survived by his older sister Lillian Nelson — and many nieces and nephews. He is proceeded in death by his sister Maxine Dietz; his brother Boyd; twin brothers David and Paul; grandson Scott Glen Anderson; and great grandson, Dallas Martin.

How do you honor a man who is loved dearly by his family? But who never liked the spotlight, and was uncomfortable being in it? When Lettie, our boys, and I would drop in to visit, we typically would spend most of the time answering his questions about our lives. To me, it’s harder to talk about someone who wants the conversation to be less about them, and more about his family. While he never was wealthy, he genuinely had everything he needed (and I think ever wanted)… and that was his family.

Distilling his life into moments that helped shape “who” we are as a family, was difficult, but a few key themes kept surfacing when I spoke with many of you, over the last few weeks, and as I thought about my perspective of his life.

  • First, I am proud to be an Anderson because we can all trace our roots to one, very strong person. The last few years weren’t easy on grandpa, but I think he handled the situation about as well as a person can.
  • His time in the Navy had an enormous and lasting impact on his life and I’m proud that he served our country. Kandi shared with me photos of the air craft carrier that he was on, and a picture of the certificate he received for crossing the equator. I can’t imagine living an experience as life-changing and profound. He had a Betty Boop tat as proof — which is pretty cool as well.
  • We all know about the mining accident that nearly took his life, and left him with a limp for the remainder of his days. I’m proud that I never once heard him complain about what happened. You’d be hard-pressed to find a person with a stronger work ethic, and it’s easy to see that trait in his three boys.
  • I am proud that he spent 73-years with our grandmother. I can’t remember a time that they were apart for any length of time. And when I spoke with all of you about him, you were proud because he was a gentleman to her in every sense of the word.

We all have memories of our grandpa. I want to share with you just a few;

  • When I think of him, I see him in a shop somewhere, working on something, making it better than when he found it.
    • I see him and grandma driving back from Elko at 35 miles per hour — with a convoy of cars in tow.
    • I also see his shoe with the metal bracket, which has intrigued me as long as I can remember.
  • As Lisa pointed out… what an amazing grandfather he was. She marveled at his patience, and how much he was loved by all of us…
  • DaNell shared a great story about his hair:
    • When she was little, he would always let DaNell and Amber play salon. One of the girls would have grandpa, and the other grandma. They got to use pins, bows, and even hairspray.
    • When she grew up, he and grandma would visit at her salon in Elko. Like clockwork, once a month, grandpa would bring grandma in for a perm and a set. He didn’t have as much hair by then, but he always got a haircut. He was SUCH a gentleman to grandma. He’d help her out of the car, into the salon,
      and into the chair. Then he’d leave to tinker with something in his car, while he waited for grams. Without fail, every time he came to get her, he would always tell her how beautiful she looked.
  • Clay remembers how good he was to all of our children, never raising his voice, even when he probably should have.
    • He mentioned that grandpa stopped by his property on occasion, and knew all is friends by name. He also loved to hear the stories Clay told him about his time in Indonesia and Africa.
  • Amber has great memories as well:
    • One of Amber’s fondest memories is of grandpa in his “bully barn” or up at Anderson Mechanical tinkering with anything and everything he could get his hands on.  If he didn’t have something broken to fix, he would take something apart, just to put it back together!
    • She talked about a time that her and grandma decided they were going to paint the outside of his shed. He was so mad because they painted around everything that was hanging up, and got paint all over his concrete. But when they told him that it was so HE would know where things went, he laughed and thanked them for their help. Amber swears that there wasn’t a mean bone in his body.
    • She’ll always remember him driving around Carlin in his old red and white pickup – we all know the one – it had his name painted on the side with Betty Boop!!
  • (Little) I spoke with Little Danny …
    • He talked about working at Anderson Mechanical with grandpa for several years, and looking back, how special that time was. For the first time, seeing grandpa as one of the guys, and learning from him. Hearing his stories and watching him work.
    • He remembers losing all of grandpa’s tools as a kid. Or tearing his motorcycle a part, thinking he could fix it, and grandpa would have to put it back together.
    • He remembers when grandpa poured new concrete in his yard and he accidentally ran on it… and seeing grandpa get mad, which as we all know didn’t happen very often.

I would be remiss not to mention… Grandma… how sorry we all feel for your loss. I can’t imagine how difficult for you this must be. We all love you very much.

And to Mary and Kandi, Roger, Danny and Rick, we are all proud of you and thank you for taking such good care of him — and making his final years so rewarding.

Albert Einstein once said, “Our death is not an end, if we can live ON in our children, and the younger generation. For they are us—our bodies, are only wilted leaves on the tree of life.”

Grandpa, your journey was our reward.

Forever in our hearts, Gpa Glen!

 

Poem by Great Grandaughter:  Riley Dawn Catt- 14 yrs old

Narrative
The four hour drive was worth it all.
I arrived to the destination.
All at once we ran though the hospital halls.
We saw him laying on the bed we were filled with agitation.
Laying there motionless, I started to cry.
I gawked at my mom, she was pale.
The look of him changed in the blink of an eye.
She sat down in a nearby chair, I noticed she became frail.
As the weekend went by so did his soul.
He laid there and repeated “sit down and have a good time.”
After that everything in the world went cold.
World War II he served, a war crime unveiled over time.
Best great grandpa you could ever ask for.
Harder and harder each day to see a vegetable.
Every time I would see him I would fall to the floor.
Every thing was becoming to epochal.
Every time I would press my finger tips on the cold door.
I could feel the rush of death crawl up from the floor.
I guess it wasn’t his time to live anymore.
 

 

 


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