Ye Shoulders of Giants

The oldest memory I have is being a small small child and riding on my uncles’ shoulders. My uncle my father and my grandfather walked on the rocks on the ocean under a full bright golden-orange moon. The image of that moon, so large and reflecting off the pitch black ocean lives on in my mind so vividly to this day.

This past Thursday after returning home from a visit to the doctor I was told my Grandfather Arthur W. Kuschke Jr. after 97 years had passed away peacefully in his sleep. The world has truly lost a giant of a man. The wisest, kindest and most inspiring individual I ever had the pleasure of knowing. The effects of his life will be seen for years to come. As a young child I saw my Grandfather as a wizard and a king, there was no doubt in my mind he must have been the oldest person in the world. There are so many amazing things I was able to learn from him. I have never known another Human to have such a deep connection to the natural world around them. It was always inspirational and refreshing in a technological media based world to gain some both small and massive piece of insight from him. Maybe it was the names of all the ferns on the path ahead, or the different songs of the birds in the trees. He has a deep understanding of the natural and spiritual world that we no longer possess in the age of fast paced media and technology.

My grandfather used to read to me on summer nights. We would read Tolkien and the OZ books by L. Frank Baum, or my personal favorite “The Adventures of Uncle Lubin”, which tell the heroic story of a man on a quest to rescue his nephew from a wicked bag bird. Uncle Lubin went to the ends of the earth, the bottom of the sea, and even to the moon to rescue his beloved nephew.

He worked as a librarian and studied religious theology. He was one of the founding members in the Orthodox Presbyterian church and worked to keep it free of corruption up until his final days.

I remember the awe of looking around his study. So many amazing relics and treasures. precious stones, feathers, pine cones, maps, books, paintings, photographs…

I have a wonderful peace with me in the time of my Grandfather’s death. I thought I would find myself regretting not having gone to see him one last time when he was ill. Of course I could beat myself up and think I could have called or written more often. But we kept in touch in his final year. I enjoyed many conversations with him. I spoke to him on the phone just a couple days before he died. Most of his speech was just slurred emotion but he managed to get out a few words. I told him we all loved him very much and he only could manage to respond with a happy sigh. I then continued my one sided conversation to explain that I was out of the hospital and feeling much better, I said I was in good health again, and he replied “I’m in good health too”. I couldn’t help but laugh and smile. Despite being two days from death he was absolutely correct. He had an amazingly healthy heart for a man of 97. Doctors were astounded by the condition of his body.

If I can live to be half the man he was I will have truly lived. And it is only by standing on the shoulders of legends like him that any of us can ever aspire to be great men.

Truly a Giant.

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~ by joelkuschke on July 7, 2010.