On January 31, 2013, the world lost one of my heroes, and Heaven gained a saintly man. If I could live my life half as lovingly, humbly, and honorably as my Grandpa Alfons J. Stammen, I would be well off, indeed. At 97 years old, my Grandpa died young at a very old age. He was just three years shy of a century and lived in his own home until his last year or so of his life. Grandpa was born in 1915. 1915, y’all! They still worked the fields with a horse and plow back then! So much has changed and developed in the span of my grandpa’s life. Grandpa grew up working on the farm with my great-grandfather, helping to provide for their family of 16. No, that’s not a typo – 16 family members. That means Grandpa was 1 of 14 kids. That’s for real!

In 1941 at just 26 years of age, Grandpa (the 2nd oldest child & oldest son in the family), was drafted into the army for WWII. He spent four years in the service and worked behind the lines as a medic.

Due to his work in the army, grandpa did not see his parents for 3 whole years. Think of all the ways we have to stay connected with today’s technology and how non-existent all of that technology was back then. Three years is a long time to not see your parents. All they could do was to simply write one another, which I imagine they would have done. It’d be so neat to see some of those letters – if they exist somewhere. When grandpa got out of the army, he was able to purchase his first car for $500 at thirty years old. It was rare to have a car at that time. My how times have changed.

Grandpa married my grandmother (who I never got to meet since she passed away from cancer prior to my birth) just months after returning home from war and they began their family – eventually having six kids of their own. In the beginning of their marriage, Grandpa worked at a factory, but eventually left to pursue his love of farming. I believe there is much to be said about a life of service and labor as a farmer. Two jobs that make a man realize the important things in life: service to your country and farming. My grandpa always saw service to his country as an honor and he wanted in. After the war, he saw service to his family as an honor. The kind of lifestyle that farming brings is tough in a lot of ways. You never know what the weather or circumstances will bring you, but you work hard and you do your best. You give it your all because it’s your livelihood.

I look at farming a bit differently now than I used to. My dad, like his father, is a farmer. With age, I’ve come to realize that there is much to be said about a farmer’s life. You do physical labor day in and day out. You never get a day off. Dad would work on the farm every day whether he was sick or not, because the animals and the land would depend on him. More importantly though, I’ve come to see farmers as hardworking and God-fearing men and women and it makes sense why that is the case. When farmers are out working in the fields or tending to their livestock, they have a lot of time to themselves, a lot of quiet time. Time to work out in their minds who God is and what role He plays in their lives. As I age, I envy that about farmers more than anything. Time in silence with our Lord while working hard to provide for family. It’s hard to get more honorable than that.

I don’t think the timing of the Dodge Ram commercial titled, “God Made A Farmer,” was coincidental. I think grandpa was sending us a message from Heaven:-)

God Made A Farmer Commercial

The things in life that I used to think were important continue to grow less and less important as time goes on. With the passing of my grandfather I am in awe at how humble and kind he was. As my dad and his siblings read through grandpa’s military discharge letter for the first time, it was discovered that my grandpa earned a bronze star in WWII. He never once made mention of this to anyone. No one knew he had such an honor and we still are trying to learn exactly how he earned the medal. He just did his job and continued on with life, not needing praise or a pat on the back. Humility. I pray for humility like my grandfather.

As we stood in the funeral home receiving line for grandpa’s viewing/visitation hours, it was incredible to see how many people came and went. The amount of lives one person touches is truly mind-blowing. At 97 years old, I imagine that most of my grandpa’s closest friends and family members had gone before him, and to still see so many people file in and out of the funeral home was amazing. Everyone that spoke of grandpa said how good of a man he was and that he never complained. Many people might wind up quite jaded and bitter after losing their wife to cancer and then losing two children at an early age as well. Not my grandpa. Grandpa didn’t complain, he just pressed on and accepted what the Lord dealt him and he did it with a smile.

Grandpa, despite all of the hard times was a happy man. I never once heard him raise his voice. He viewed life on the positive side and he made people feel important and loved. When you were around him, he just wanted to take it all in. He would observe with a gentle presence, rather than take command of a room. He just loved to take in life around him. I believe he was able to live that way because he was such a Godly man – God was his priority as well as his Catholic faith. I believe his faith led him to have a heart filled with gratitude. I will spend the rest of my life striving to have a grateful heart like my grandpa.

My grandpa was married to my grandmother for 37 years before she died of cancer. He remarried several years later and spent 28 years with his second wife, until the time of his death. In today’s world many people have a hard time making marriage work at all, let alone making marriage work twice. He did it faithfully and lovingly for a total of 65 years of marriage and devotion.

On January 31, 2013, God called my grandpa’s number. Being the gentleman that grandpa was, he answered our Lord and went peacefully to be with Him in eternity. I have great comfort in knowing that Grandpa is now home forever and I look forward to the day when I get to see him again.

Grandpa, I love you and respect you more than you could ever know!