My grandfather, Kenneth M. Duttarer, passed away on 6/14/2009 at the age of 79. Tasha and I are in Pekin this week for his memorial service, which took place today.
For those of you that never knew my grandpa, he was a very kind and inspirational person. In 1974, Grandpa was caught in a kiln explosion at his job in a wire factory and has been paralyzed from the waist down as long as I have been alive.
All through my childhood Grandpa would give my sister and I rides on his wheelchair, occasionally wheelies when the mood would take him. He and my grandma would spend summers out at the campground near Pekin, so I have a lot of fun memories fishing and sitting around the campfire with them.
He was an avid woodworker as well, with his entire shop put together so he could work on projects from his chair. The number of cool things that he built over the years number too many to list here, but his wooden bowls were his favorite projects. Tasha and I have several of them to remember grandpa by, in addition to our handcrafted Christmas Tree Fence (used to keep the kids out of the presents!) and my workbench that he built me a few years back.
What I remember about my grandpa most is how involved he was with us grandkids. I remember him being there for my baseball games, karate demonstrations, college move-in days, and holidays. I remember his big smile that he’d get whenever we’d get to see his latest woodworking projects, and he would regularly spoil me with new tools to add to my own workshop.
My best memory was when Grandpa told me that he was proud of me when I graduated from college. I always knew that he was proud of me, but that was the only time he ever told me so himself.
Today has been a pretty long, hard day but getting through it is all a part of life. I appreciate all of the well-wishes Tasha and I have received so far from friends and coworkers, it has certainly made it easier.
I’ll miss you, Grandpa!
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3 users responded in this post
Hello
We’ve never met, although I was honored to meet with members of your grandfather’s family in pekin when the returned from Florida in July. I located them while I was doing some genealogy work on the Duttarer family. We are related through 4 brothers about 4-5 generations ago. We will continue to get to know each other better whenever we travel to Pekin.
I was so happy to (accidently) find your post about your grandfather and I feel I know a little more about him. He does sound like a wonderful grandfather. Interestingly seeing the picture makes me realize there are family traits (my husband is 74 and they look a little alike in some ways). Camping and fishing stories abound in this family and it must be characteristic that they all have trouble expressing love and pride.
If you are agreeable, I would like to include your comments in the notes about him in the family story so that others who didn’t know him will gain a little insight. I would also like to know how you are connected to the family.
Pleasant memories, Jan
Jan,
Thanks for writing, I have sent you an email at the email address you provided with your comment. Please let me know here if you don’t get it for some reason.
[...] a very hard time coming up with the right things to say here, so I’ll refer you all back to the post I made a few weeks after he passed away. I put a great deal of thought into this, and it all holds [...]
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