Grandpa matthews

Great grandpa Matthews, Circa-September 2001

This picture sure brings back a lot of memories of when we lived out west. This picture was taken on the day the twin towers were hit. So many of us will always remember when and where we were on that day of infamy. Luckily we were in the comforts of grandpa's home in Washington state. This is the last picture that my girls took with him. Sierra was seven, and Lexie was 20 months old.

Sadly it will be the last...he passed away last night on a hospital bed in Arizona.

For the past few years he had been suffering a great deal with bone cancer that had spread throughout his body. Family and friends have been praying for him for the past two weeks for him to let go of this life, and to pass on to the next. Prayers were heard, and after he was given a priesthood blessing earlier this week by my father in law, the suffering ended, and the Lord carried him home last night.

When I first married into the Jorgensen family, I wanted to meet more of his family that lived outside of Utah. I still remember how I kept harassing Jon for us to visit his grandpa so that I can finally meet him and Billie. I am so grateful to have taken that step into getting to know them even if we only visited them once a year. We hold such fond memories, and I count my blessings for all of those opportunities we had in the time that we spent with them.

For the past 11 years I always sent them yearly updates of our family, and my girls enjoyed writing to them. We loved visiting their home in Ilwaco, and it gave us a chance to visit Portland, and Vancouver in B.C. There were two things that Jon and his grandpa had in common...the love for fishing and golfing, and one of Jon's wishes was to have gone out on the boat to fish with him, but that never happened. That's okay...we are extremely grateful for the memories that we have built with him. 

He will surely be missed. 

Lexie with Billie & G. grandpa in Durango, CO-Spring 2000

We know that he is in a better place, and that he is looking down on us from heaven. He may not have met Chelsea and Noah in this mortal life, but I know that he is staring down at them from above, smiling. How grateful I am for the plan of salvation knowing that we will be able to see our loved ones again. 

Rest in peace grandpa...God be with you till we meet again.