Love You Grandpa!

Isn't this article cool? Did you notice the date? My grandpa has done so many things in his life. He seems to be successful in everything he does. A couple things I think are really neat about my grandpa are:

• He used to fly around the world teaching people how to farm. He has worked in Iran, Afganistan, Pakistan, Yugoslavia, Equador, Republic of the Congo, Rome, and Thailand. He even went to Vietnam during the war to help them (he was contracted by the US to do this).


• He has been a bishop, branch president twice, and in the bishopric as a counselor 4 times. He has also been in the high council several times, superintendant of the Eastern States Mission MIA and superintendant of the New Jersey Stake MIA. I'm proud of him NOT because he was asked to do these things but because he spent an incredible amount of time serving the Lord and the people in our church.
• On his LDS mission to the Central Atlantic States Mission he was made the district president which is comparable to a stake president except it's for a much smaller amount of people in multiple branches in 5 counties of West Virginia. He updated membership records and put on a conference for the district with his companion. This is a job they normally don't give to young missionaries.


• He was a counselor in the West Indies Mission Presidency while serving a mission with my grandma. Keith and I got to visit him there. It was a great experience going to church and visiting people with him.


• He has a PHD in Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness Management from Cornell University.


• He was the Associate Dean of Agriculture at BYU.


• He was a professor at Rutgers University.
• In North Carolina (on his LDS mission) he had two radio programs. WRBM, is the station if he remembers right. He used the Mormon Tabernacle Choir records during the programs.
• He got his picture in the newspaper one time when he gave the govenor of Virgina a copy of the Book of Mormon.
• He was a 4H leader as a teenager. He took his cow he bought himself to the Eastern Idaho State Fair and won grand champion with it.


• He is an extremely POSITIVE person. Just try and knock him down. It won't work.


• He grew up on a farm and has lots of neat stories about his families farm and his grandfathers.
• He recieved an award from Future Farmers of America called the American Farmer Degree which was awarded nationally. His brother Bob also got one. This was a big deal. It entitled him to go to the National Convention in Kansas City.


• He loves to create new things and develop ideas to make things work (see article above).


• He will go with me whenever I call, even at a moments notice.


• He is a great cook. I need to post the recipe for his Cornell Chicken.


• He is very kind.


• He loves his family.
• He loves to tell tall tales. He made one up about a rattlesnake that totally fooled me until he talked about giant misquitoes sucking his blood. He fooled me at first because he was showing me a scar on his knee that does look like a snake bite.


• He wrote one of the first computer manuals.


• He is the one that came up with the idea to charge different prices for big and little apples. He developed this for his master's thesis at Utah State University. My grandpa just told me that my grandma helped him do some of the survey work for this.


• His house is decorated with lots of neat things from around the world as well as things that remind him of his life growing up.
• He wanted to letter in High School so he signed up for boxing. He says he is ashamed he did that. He wasn't very good but did end up lettering in football. I assume he lettered in boxing, but I can't remember now.
  
• He talks about my grandma with such love and admiration. My grandma was his high school sweetheart.

The list could go on and on. He is amazing!