A Good Man

My Papal passed away this past Saturday. He was loved by many and will be missed very much. In my mind, he exemplified what it means to be a good man. He was loyal, loving, humble, funny, sweet, giving, and a good servant of the Lord. He led a long, happy life surrounded by a throng of women who loved him so- he had two daughters, four granddaughters, and two great-granddaughters. He was a man of few words (and I often wondered if that's just because he couldn't get a word in edge-wise- the women in my family can TALK!), but when he did say something it was always funny or sweet.

Many happy memories will stay with me of Papal- piling all the granddaughters in the car and taking a road-trip to Dollywood in TN, willingly dressing up as Raggedy Ann and Andy with Baba at Halloween, proudly distributing the moutain of presents under the tree each Christmas Eve as we gathered at their house, helping the men of the church cook Easter breakfast after the Sunrise service, his funny one-liners, his penchance for Frostys from Wendy's, and doing everything in his power to attend my wedding even after being sick in the hospital (the picture above is from the wedding).

But most of all, I will remember two things about Papal- his love of Carolina athletics and his love of Baba.

He was a huge Tar Heel fan and loved watching their baseball, football and basketball games. In fact, I owe my life-long allegience to the Heels to him. Some of my earliest memories were watching Carolina basketball games with him, and that led to my love of sports in general and to the easy decision that I wanted to attend college in Chapel Hill. It was always fun to talk with him about Carolina's latest win. I will always be grateful for that connection we had.

But the most special thing about my grandfather was his intense love of my grandmother. They would have celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in October, and what a love-filled life they had together. I will always remember how he laughed at Baba's stories and praised her cooking. How he loved making her feel special by giving her a pretty piece of jewelry at Christmas and how even at the end, he couldn't sleep at the hospital because he was worried about Baba sleeping at home alone. They were very lucky to have had each other, and we girls were lucky to have such a good example of enduring love.

We are all sad right now, but can celebrate the fact that Jack McMahan led a great life and that we were a part of it.