"Grandad" 

Nicknames...... 
You know I have been thinking recently about nicknames.... Gordon Pettitt was 1 of 3 brothers growing up, the other 2 were John and Peter, John well he had the nickname Pip, while Peter he was known as Titch and it has always struck me as odd why Gordon Pettitt didn't have a nickname but I realise now it would be later life where he would get the nickname perfectly suited to him.... Grandad. 


What can I say about my grandfather? my name is Dan and I wouldn't be the person I am today without him. The fact that he's not with us anymore breaks my heart, but the fact that he taught me - and our entire family - what it means to really love someone will help me heal and go on. From the time I was very young, I worshipped my grandad. While I may not always have shown it, I always looked up to him. From the time I was very small, I knew that he was the ideal example of what a family man should be. Not only was he the leader of our family, he was an incredible human being who left his mark on everyone he met. When I look out today, not only do I see my family, I see so many friends, coworkers, neighbors, and others who are also mourning the loss of this great man.


I want to tell you what kind of person my grandfather really was.


The first thing I want to tell you is he loved his family..... My Grandparents I believe are the glue which hold my family together, he and my grandmother Stella had a total of 66 years together with 64 of them shared as husband and wife and they created quite the legacy, 3 children, 6 grandchildren and 2 great grand children is quite the dynasty to leave behind. My Grandad especially loved children and you have never seen a happier man than when he got a visit from his great Granddaughters Evangeline and Willow, getting Evangeline to give him a twirl in a pretty dress while Willow would get him his own personal doll from the old pram which always made him laugh, she would also get his walking stick when she had to leave in hope he would be going with her. 


The second thing I wanna tell you is he was passionate.. about westerns. 
Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, Lee Marvin, James Coburn, Charles Bronson, Jack Elam and of course a young 17 year old whippersnapper called Randolph Scott.... See Nan I told you I'd get him in there.... These were names that most kids growing up didn't know but boy I did, in fact I remember on one occasion whilst in middle school I received a merit because to my headmasters genuine surprise I knew that Marion Morrison was the real name of John Wayne.... sitting on the floor next to my grandfathers chair watching those classic westerns was one of the happiest experiences of my life and a memory I will cherish forever. 


The third thing I wanna tell you is my Grandad loved a joke and we spent many hours watching his old videotapes of comedians.... It was a trait which I believe made mine and my grandads bond even greater, I would often tell him an old Mike Reid, Kevin Bloody Wilson, Jethro or Chubby Brown joke or even one I'd heard from my friend Dudley at the care home I work at and he would laugh so hard that he would grab his stomach and that was when i knew i had him, his head would roll back and he'd be weezing through the laughter...... And I was incredibly proud to discover upon visiting him in hospital in 2023 that he had told the man in the bed opposite one of my jokes...... to me it felt like our journey had come full circle. While I grew up with him sharing his humour, he was now sharing mine. 


My grandad was all of those things, and really so much more that words can't describe. While I may not know what my future - or indeed the future of our family - looks like without my grandad, I know that I'm a better person because I was loved by him. I only hope that I can live up to the example of love, strength, character, and integrity that he set for all of us. While he's no longer here to say that he's proud of me, I carry his strength in my heart. The kindest compliment I hope to hear someday is "your grandfather would be proud."


Thank you so much for joining my family in celebrating the life of Gordon Pettitt a man I'm so so proud to call my grandad. I'd like to leave you with these final words.


We are all here today to celebrate life and the hope, the hope that we all meet again somewhere. The hope that we will all meet and it's just hope that we need... to meet Gordon Pettitt again, and a lot of people maybe you are not religious or maybe you just push hope aside and they talk about life after death as if something from a science fiction movie but I HOPE..... And I look at this way grandad... What a caterpillar calls death, a wise man calls a butterfly. So you go fly Grandad. 


And finally one last joke for the road till I see you again... See today is actually a doubly sad occasion, Ive just heard something on the news coming in and see you won't know this because you are all here but when you get home you'll read about it and see it on the television but this morning somebody has broken into Boris Johnson's Library and has stolen all his books.... And three of them he hadn't even coloured in..... I love you Grandad, like all great cowboys you've ridden off into the sunset. It has been an absolute pleasure and a privilege, until we meet again I will exist in 2 places..... Here and where you are x