In Memery of Edwin Ruthven Miles IV February 12, 1922- March 24, 2009

I was very lucky to spend the last couple of days with my grandpa before he passed away. He was always such a special man. I am so grateful that I got to share 32 years of my life with him and really get to know my grandfather for the spiritual giant he was. My grandpa had 10 children, 60 grandchildren and 38 great grandchildren and yet he always had time to make me feel special.

As a child I got to spend a lot of time with my grandad. He and my mother worked together running his business Mr. Tutors so I got to spend many hours with him. He would take me to the Fashion Place Mall to Snelgroves and we would get a burnt almond shake. I still love snelgroves burnt almond fudge ice cream thanks to my grandpa. I also remember going to Grandpa's house and he would always get us to comb his hair. He loved his hair combed. He even let us put girly clips in his hair. When I got older he would still ask to have his hair combed. Another favorite memory was when I was older. I had been divorced for a few years at the time and appearantly Grandpa was concerned that I wasn't remarried yet. I had recieved a letter in the mail from him expressing his desires for me to remarry. In fact he had even mentioned that he worked with a few quality guys at the temple and wanted to set me up. So somehow I let him convince me into going on a blind date with one of them. Needless to say it wasn't the best date ever. In fact the guy was shocked that I was actually pretty. I am sure he wasn't expecting Grandpa to be right. Even though the set up didn't work out I knew that I was loved and watched over by Grandpa. I also wasn't going to let Grandpa set me up again. In the last few years of his life it was really hard to watch him lose his memory. He forgot names of many of the grandkids and would always ask who belonged to who. The hardest part was he was very aware that he was forgetting and that was tough to watch. My Grandpa was one of the smartest men I have ever known. After serving in the Army Air Force in WW2 he came home married my grandma and worked as an aerospace engineer on projects such as the Lunar Lander. He later moved to Utah and made a difference in many kids life by openeing his Tutoring business.

However, my favorite thing about my grandpa was how strong he was in his faith. He has always had a missionaries heart. He loved to share the gospel more than anything. He was always a tremendous example to me and I am forever grateful.

On March 23rd I stood at the foot of grandpa's hospital bed with a few other relatives. He had been sleeping for a long while. He started to wake up. He wasn't able to speak but he took a moment and looked at each one of us in the eyes. As he looked me in the eyes I knew he knew who I was. The love that was pouring out from him was completely undescribable. I was able to be at peace with the fact that Grandpa wasn't going to be with us much longer. He gave us a smile and then soon slipped back into his coma state. The next day I was there with Grandpa when he took his last breaths. We gathered together and cried, but celebrated his life. He finally got to go home. How happy he must have been to finally be with his loved ones on the othr side. I miss him dearly but I know I will get to see him again. What a great and wonderous day that will be. I love you Grandpa.