Farewell, Great-Grandpa Art

This past Tuesday, June 7, Ronan's great-grandpa, Arthur Jeong, passed away in his home in Redwood City at the wonderfully young age of 90. Grandpa was a huge part of my life... a great friend to me... and I'm not sure how things will be without him. I used to visit him every one or two weeks to chat, take him out for burritos, Denny's, or Chinese seafood, and joke around with him. He was an inspiration to me and so many other loved ones. Despite decades of debilitating arthitis (which my grandma used to call Arthur-itis) and the loss of his wife of 63 years, he continued to live each day to the fullest and teach himself new things. After Grandma died, he bought himself a new stove from Sears and started cooking his own meals for the first time in six decades! At age 87, he bought himself a laptop. He was just learning how to use his digital camera and printer when he died.

Gramps was inquisitive, feisty, intelligent. A man of many, many talents, from ballroom dancing to shooting to building and taking apart radios. And he had a memory like an elephant's! One of my favorite things was to listen to his stories of the old days in Oakland in the 1910s... Dirt roads, horse-drawn carts, ferry rides and silent movies that cost 5 cents... He remembered all these details as if they happened yesterday!

I'll forever cherish the fact that Ronan got to meet his great-grandpa. The last time we visited--last week--Gramps spent the whole time staring at the baby. He didn't even finish his burrito because he was too busy watching Ronan blow bubbles. Right before we left, he held Ronan one last time and the baby promptly fell asleep in his arms -- something he rarely does. When we were walking out the door, I told him what I always tell him when I leave: "Grandpa, be good!" He grinned, with a twinkle in his eye, and replied with what he always says in return: "No... I'll be damn good!"