“Papa Herb” Ries

I regret to inform any of you reading this that my Grandfather, Herbert Ries, passed away yesterday afternoon 9/25/2006. I was blessed to be able to spend quite a bit of time with him this week. Out of all of the people in this world, this man was probably my favorite person to make laugh or smile. When ever I saw him that was my number 1 goal was to find him and give him my best ‘1 liner’ and see if I could get him to laugh or smile and usually it worked. I have so many fond memories of Papa like when mom and I drove him to Kentucky. We left before 5am and before we even got out of the driveway he told me to put my bright lights on and watch for deer. So I did, and after that, he and I enjoyed a 13 hr. drive to eastern Kentucky smoking like they were going out of style. He even said that I was a good driver and that isn’t a compliment that he just throws around. There was also the time that I was on his team playing Canasta and I started a 2^nd ‘wild one’ and I thought he was going through the roof. We ended off pulling it out and all was well, but if it hadn’t I would’ve never heard the end of it. Papa always enjoyed talking about farming, crops, and the good-old days. He could and would talk for hours about things like that and I enjoyed every second of those talks. Papa always loved babies and when we were there Sunday night to see him in the hospital, he held McKenna even though he was in a terrible amount of pain. I don’t know what came over her, but she was fine just laying there and kindly touched his face like she knew what was going on. That is a picture I will never forget. When we were leaving the hospital and saying our good-byes, he said “you’re a good man and take care of your family.” Those were the last words that he spoke to me and even though I will never be able to make him smile or giggle again, those words were better. Papa, you will be missed by so many!! May you finally rest in peace. We love you!