virgil w. slade....

my grandpa slade passed away this last friday, and sadly i am unable to attend the funeral.  but i thought it would still be fun and nice to share some of my memories of him and things that i have learned of him
throughout my life.  i will admit i may have some facts terribly wrong... but this is how i remember things... so sorry if they are incorrect.

he was born in colorado... and his family was very poor.  so poor he didn't even have shoes.  he served in world war II in the army air corps and his plane was shot down over enemy territory and they managed to survive 2 weeks behind enemy lines.  he met my grandma soon after the war and they got married.  when i was getting married i asked grandma if i could have a copy of their wedding photo and she said they didn't have any.  they were too poor, but i did manage to find this cute pic of them from the first year of their marriage.  he loved her so much... they often kissed and held hands in public.  always supported each other.

grandpa was an incredibly hard worker... he did construction and other business ventures including kentucky fried chicken! and yes we did eat kfc at many family gatherings... speaking of food... grandpa made the best bean dip too.  he'd have it all heated up in the little green (or orange??) crockpot.  (random memory). 

mell, virgil, and my dad kelly

mell and kelly

family was always really important.  we had family reunions with grandpa and all his siblings every 2 years.  it was always fun and i actually got to know a few second cousins really well... and got to spend time with my first cousins.

grandpa built a cabin up in brian head, ut.  it was a beautiful log cabin with big windows and a giant black poof ( a giant love sac).  you could easily fit 10 little kids... this was another fun time to spend with the family!

we also had just virgil slade reunions every 4 years or so at lake powell.  we'd get 3 or 4 house boats and stay on the lake for a whole week.  my dad says growing up they spent a lot of time out on lake mead... water skiing and boating.... it was fun to carry on this tradition into the next generation.

when they built the LDS temple in las vegas, he was called to be in that first presidency.  we got to go through the temple open house as a whole family.... i remember putting these little booties over my shoes so we wouldn't get the perfectly clean carpet dirty. 

since he was in that first presidency he was also a sealer and could seal people (marry them) for time and all eternity.  he sealed many members of the family.  when he married my brother sam and his wife meesha, he teased them that their first kiss as husband and wife wasn't long enough... so when my sister emily and her husband greg got married... they practiced their first kiss so grandpa wouldn't tell them to try again... and they did pretty good... so when i got married 3 months later i told chris not to pull away from the kiss... i would pull away when i thought it was long enough.... i held it so long people started to giggle and so i pulled away and grandpa just smiled and said "that was good".  haha i love that he was able to marry chris and i.  i believe we may have been the last couple he got to marry.  

before i met chris and got married i would go with the singles ward once a month to do a sealing session at the temple... and since grandpa was the sealer for our stake... he was the one doing them.  the first time i showed up he smiled and told me to write my name on the paper... and then when everyone was there he was checking to make sure he could pronounce everyones last name.  he read "slade" and his head quickly shot up in surprise... and he was like "oh marilyn! didn't even recognize you!"  haha it was such a neat experience for me to go do the work with my grandpa.  he had the words down so well, and you could just hear the rhythm in his speech.  

grandpa and grandma were great at serving... they served 3 temple missions for the church.  the first to new zealand, the second to chicago, and the last to nauvoo, il.  

since they lived in vegas like we did they came to a lot of important events.  anytime a brother was advancing in the priesthood, when we got baptized, birthdays, baby blessings... anything.  it was really special to have both of my grandfathers in the circle when we blessed daniel back in may.  

my baptism

i have no idea what we are doing in the following pictures... nativity for something... maybe just our own little family party... not sure... but don;t we look good in our costumes.

we had a little bbq to celebrate chris' graduation from dental school and daniel's baby blessing... grandma and grandpa both came.. and i was walking around taking pics...and everyone else at the table had made silly faces and so grandma made this silly face, and grandpa just smiled.... too cute right?

he was a great man! hard working, faithful, serving, loving.  always greeted the grandkids with a smile and said "hello marilyn" (or whatever your name was)  always in the same tone.  we will miss him terribly, but he is off now to heaven with heavenly father... an awesome place to be.

krista, grandpa, me (marilyn)

my dad wrote his obituary.... here it is:

speaks perfectly to the kind of man he was.  i so sad i can't be at the funeral thursday.  love you grandpa! see you on the other side!