Talk given by Mike LeBaron (oldest grandchild) Transcribed from tape by Sharlie Orrock My Grandpa LeBaron passed away about three, three and a half weeks ago and I'm going to go ahead and maybe take a page out of my dad's talk that he gave at that time, and even though there are a lot of aunts and uncles and grandparents and cousins and second cousins and nieces and nephews here, I'll refer to you all as "brother" and "sister". It's an easy thing for me to do, and that way, I won't fumble with the words I use. My name is Mike LeBaron. I'm a grandson of Scott and Dawn Orrock. Before I get into my talk and perhaps in describing my Grandfather through my eyes, and maybe through a lot of the grandkids eyes, I'd like to start by hashing something out that I talked with Carol about the other night. I'd like to discuss the concept of an Ebenezer. Now, an Ebenezer's a funny name. You think of it when you think of A Christmas Carol. Let me give you another definition of an Ebenezer maybe you haven't thought of before. The Ancient Israelites after they left with Moses and went into the Promised Land proceeded in faith to conquer the people of the area and inherit that which God had prepared for them. They fought a lot of battles against a lot of overwhelming odds, but they always won because the God of Israel was on their side. After they won, they gave this God of Israel a tribute. They erected a pillar of stones which they called an Ebenezer. That Ebenezer, that pillar of stones was to remind all who passed that day, and all who passed that way, that God had done something amazing here; that the Lord God had performed a miracle. I would like the kids of Scott and Dawn Orrock to please stand up. I would like the grandkids and their spouses of Scott and Dawn Orrock to please stand up. By default there are a lot of great grandkids of Scott and Dawn Orrock also standing up right now. Let it be recognized this day, before God, angels, and His holy witnesses that God has done something amazing here. That my Grandfather and my Grandmother were Ebenezer's before the Lord. 57 years and 114 people later and it goes on, and on, and on into the eternities. Thank you for indulging me, you can sit down. Now I don't say this by any stretch of the imagination to make my Grandpa out to be a perfect individual. As was written in the song, "Come thou font" we are all prone to wander at times. Particularly during those BYU football games there was a little more wandering that happened there then other places or times, as has already been mentioned. But that's ok. There's an intermediary, there's the Savior. And that's what He's there for, and to not use Him would be to deny Him again. I had an opportunity to read all of the emails that the grandkids sent and, again, being probably the type of individual that I am, I decided to go ahead and generate a spread sheet of topics and thoughts of those things that came up as I was going through those emails. This is not comprehensive by any stretch of the imagination. If it was mentioned 2 or 3 times I put it in there, there are several other thoughts maybe mentioned once or twice that just wouldn't fit on this eleven and a half by seven landscapes, as opposed to portrait. So, I'm going to read some of these topics that came up. The Foote family reunion; Lake Powel; the Gospel and testimony; BYU football; the St. George home; jokes; work ethic; homemade root beer and BBQ chicken; Hawaii; love. One last topic, a topic particularly I'd like to focus on is one that 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 individuals brought up. You've heard it said that there are sailors out there that have a girl in every port; my Grandpa had a back scratcher in every port. It didn't matter Wit was California, Arizona, Florida, the east coast, the west coast, or Wisconsin; there was a back scratcher there. I broke this subject into two columns; a person, and paid. It's very interesting to me because if I had a grandpa who's a "staunch democrat" (Grandpa LeBaron), there's something here that's saying that this grandpa was a "staunch republican" because it wasn't necessarily a solid pay level that he gave. It was sliding, and it was generally low. Anyway, I'll go ahead and start with my sister, Kathryn, who earned 5 cents an hour and was disgruntled to find out later that there were other cousins earning upward of a quarter. Angela Stephan, and forgive me, I do not know all of my married cousins names now. So if I call you by the name that I remember you by, please forgive me. Angela Stephan, whatever was in the pocket, is what she got. Sheila Pruett, same, whatever was in the pocket was what she got. Melissa made out with a couple quarters. Melissa, you're the winner. Ashley Stephan, there was no mention of pay, but you'd also rub his feet with lotion, so, I'm not sure how that worked out, but hey you went above and beyond the call there. Tawnia, a quarter. And specifically states, "I remember when I had to tickle your back just to get a quarter. When it came time to pay up, Grandpa was asleep." You worked yourself out of a job. Jillian Orrock made no mention of money, but did mention waiting for Grandpa to fall asleep so she could creep away. Rachel White, a nickel, but never counted on receiving it. Jennifer Justice, scratched back on the notion that pay might be involved. Alaina is still owed money. Emily Marquez. And this, Emily, you're going to have to explain to me a little bit, because in your email you said you either got a nickel or a dime. Was that your choice? Or it was just whatever was there, a nickel or a dime? Ok, because I know Grandpa, being a student of behavior, he probably offered you five pennies as opposed to one little dime. And, you know, to 3 or 4 year olds, yep, five pennies, five is more than one. I just had to ask. Those are some of the topics, some of the memories. I'd like to go ahead and read some excerpts from these emails that were received as well. I'm going to leave names out and make you all hunt and find them yourself, as to who may have said this. There was one grandchild who shared the same birthday as Grandpa Orrock. There seemed to be a competition between the two of them to see who could tell the other happy birthday first. Another grandchild enjoyed playing My Little Pony with Grandpa while he would refer to the staggering amounts of My Little Pony trivia that he always seemed to know. Now, no talk on Grandpa's life could ever be complete without mentioning Grandpa's sometimes compatriot, yet oft time's nemesis, Tiny the dog. And anybody who ever saw Grandpa with Tiny, you understand exactly what I'm saying. Tiny took on Grandpa's personality. I don't know how that happened but there would be times when I was down at Dixie, I would be sitting at the couch and Tiny would be looking at me. I knew exactly what he was thinking. He was wondering if I'd found a job yet. Anyway, this grandchild always thought of Grandpa as a good master to his little doggy, because of all the cheese he would feed to Tiny. Following Grandpa's example, she fed cheese to her own dog, but with very different consequences. Tiny's gastrointestinal fortitude went above and beyond that of an average canine. Where cheese was not a problem for Tiny, it most certainly was for most other dogs. Another grandchild, "I remember that every time I would come to your house I would go inside your room and see how you were doing. Then you would say, 'fine, thank you', and we'd stare at each other for a while. You would say what was going on in the show you were watching, and I would always be interested". Another grandchild recalled football games that Grandpa and the other uncles would watch. She remembered being one of the little carriers who would bring drinks and desserts to those watching the game. Another grandchild just loved listening to Grandpa as he talked about his mission in Hawaii. Another grandchild would think back at an opportunity to interview Grandpa for a World War II project. She writes that at the time she didn't realize what a special opportunity it was for her and that she was only 14 years old but will always hold this experience close to her heart. One grandchild, and maybe I'm outing her just by sharing the experience here, says, "How many kids get to have their Grandpa as their Junior High teacher? I did, math. And I still can't decide if it was torture or a treat." She followed that with a little smiley face. "I loved being able to call my teacher, Grandpa." Another grandchild wrote, "I really enjoy your big hugs and smiles and will never forget them. I have a picture that is my favorite of you and me taking a walk down the sidewalk together holding hands. I like that picture because it shows how much we love each other and what a good Grandpa you are." Another grandchild writes, "You remind me of Lehi sometimes. Always keeping the Lord's commandments. I know that you really want the best from us, so every day I will try harder to get better and better, just like you." A great-grandchild wrote, "I had fun visiting you at your new house. Thanks for giving me a ride on your walker." Those were just a few of the thoughts. I wish time was there to read them all, but the hour is growing late. I would like to take one liberty and read my email, my message that I sent to Grandpa. Its payment for getting to talk, I guess, I don't know, but if you'll please indulge me. "I'm sitting here trying to think of some things I can put down on paper in response to the email that I would like to have read to my Grandpa. Yet nothing comes to mind. There's so much, that I have a hard time separating the mob of information in my head into individual thoughts. When I try however, the following things seem to stick out most prominently: I remember the house in Indian Hills. I remember back yard gatherings that always included food, Sandy, Kristy, and Steven. Of course other aunts and uncles were there in force. My mother's brothers and sisters, as well as my grandmother's mother, aunts, and uncles. Yes, I definitely remember the Blood Pressure Party sitting in fold up camping chairs in the SW corner of the Indian Hills house's back yard. I called them the Blood Pressure Party because I believe that's what they called themselves when they would come visit my Mom to have their blood pressure taken. Of course, this crew included the likes of Grandma Anderson, Aunt Alice, Aunt Maude, and Uncle Mark. I'm afraid I can't remember much about Uncle Keith, but I'm sure I met him. When I think of the Indian Hills house I also think of massive drive-in movie staging events that took place from there. There would be people all around. Kids, me, Travis, Kristy, Sandy, Saul, Johnny, Steven, running about helter-skelter while Grandpa was in the background effectively packing the maximum amount of people in the fewest number of cars. Getting ready to see the movie must have been more fun than the actual movie itself, because to this day I don't remember any of the movies that we saw. I remember Page. For some odd teenage-brained reason I wanted to graduate in the same class and from the same school as Sandy. I also hated Payson High about as much as my brother Rob loved it. Anyway, Grandma and Grandpa accommodated me and I had an opportunity to live with them for a period of 5 to 6 months. My most vivid memories of Page were Barney Marspenie, Wade Chamberlain, Milton Tso, and getting a hammer for Grandpa. I dreaded getting Grandpa a hammer. He had 5 thousand different hammers, one hammer for every function you could possibly conceive a hammer to have. Anyway, he would ask me to get him a hammer, I would ask, "What kind of hammer?" That was always my first mistake. He would reply, "A 12 penny saw tooth dry wall quarter inch nail sinker. You know what that is, right?" How do you answer that question? You say, "No, I don't know what you're talking about," thereby proclaiming your hammer illiteracy before the world? Or do you always do what any other red-blooded teenage American boy would do, and this was always my second mistake, and say, "Yes, yes, I do know what a 12 penny saw tooth dry wall quarter inch nail sinker looks like. Everybody knows what a 12 penny saw tooth dry wall quarter inch nail sinker is." And then walk off towards the garage recognizing that I had a one in 5 thousand chance of getting it right. Probably better off that the hammers were not all in their proper place. The hammers were always in their proper places. Despite my good odds, I always got it wrong and he would have to get the hammer himself. A part of me wonders if he made up hammer names just to have a little bit of fun with me. If so, it was a very interesting kind of fun. It's 8:56 a.m. and my Dad just called to let me know that my Grandpa passed away this morning around 8:00. I don't know what to feel or think. My Grandpa's been in my memories since I recall having memories. I feel the grief and recognize that for my part it's a selfish grief. I can't imagine how hard it was for him to go. He had so many people pulling for him from both sides of the veil. At the end of the day, my Grandpa was not a selfish person. He had it in his heart to do what he could for those around him. Even at the expense of himself. I imagine he agonized over the decision to stay or go. In God's time, however, it was his time to go. And what a joyful transition it must have been. Passing from mortality into the eternities. Joyful with a tinge of melancholy. Grandpa, -I know you're listening. Say hi to Krissy for us; give our love to the Blood Pressure Party. If I have any more kids waiting for me, tell them to be patient with their Dad. In the meantime, we love you and we miss you -- your grandson, Michael LeBaron." And in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen