Don Granholm
I didn't have a problem writing about it when my favorite piggy Homer died yesterday. But later in the day when my mom called and told me that my friend Don died yesterday too, I was left not knowing at all what to say.
Don Granholm was the husband of my mom's best friend. That doesn't sound like much of a relationship to me, but my family and theirs grew up together. I knew him better than I knew a lot of my actual relatives. He was like a really good uncle to me. As a kid, his daughters were my best friends, and his son was my brother's best friend. Our families spent every New Year's and Fourth of July together for years. Don and his twin brother Doug were the photographers at my wedding. He's been there for everything important in my life since I was a little kid. So the phrase, "friend of the family" isn't nearly enough to describe him.
Of all my friends in Minnesota that my husband met, I'd have to say that if Don wasn't his favorite, he was easily in the top five. It wasn't surprising. Everyone who met him loved him. He had a joyfulness that was contagious.
He's the second friend of my family to be taken by cancer in the last two weeks. He had colon cancer that went away and came back again. The only good things about his passing are that he's no longer in pain, and he is in heaven now. For the rest of us left behind without him, it's heartbreaking. As his daughter said a few months ago, "This would be a lot easier if he wasn't so wonderful."
If any of you are in the Duluth area, there is a visitation for him from 5:00 to 7:00 Thursday at Northland Funeral Home in Cloquet, and the funeral itself is Saturday at Cloquet Gospel Tabernacle with visitation at 10am, and the funeral service at 11. If you can make it there, give Jeannie and the rest of the family a hug from me. I wish I could be there.
This is a picture of Don and Jeannie from my wedding. This is how I will always remember him. Smiling and in love with his family and life.
I'll miss him. Please pray for Jeannie and their children Bonnie, Jodie and Keith. His passing wasn't a surprise, but that doesn't make it any less painful.
Alana
