A simple tribute.

I was woken up this morning at 4:15, by the portable house phone that was sitting next to my bed.
I had taken the phone from its usual resting spot in my parents room because they had gone out to dinner and I was looking after my little brother, and now, I sat bolt upright in bed and extended my arm to silence it before it woke the whole house. It was my mum on the other end, asking for my dad.
As I ran down the hall to my parents room and handed the phone over, I knew something had happened to my grandfather. He had been in hospital for two days, and before that, a week, following a series of abrupt ailments, each brought on by the one before.
At 93 years of age, it would have seemed foolish to think that everything could run smoothly forever.
Moments later, my dad came out of his room in a hurry, and picked up the car keys, saying my grandad had passed away, before leaving to pick up my mum from the hospital where she'd been with him for the past three hours.
I went back into my room and waited until they came back. When they did, mum could hardly speak, and when she could, she briefly went through the last things she had said to him.

My grandad was born in 1912, and his full name was Charles Edwin Ross.
His father was a man who had changed his family name to Ross from Hull after leaving his English home and settling in Canada in the late 1800's.
To be brief, Charles was truly the most fascinating man I've ever known.
During his life, he encountered situations that nobody today could possibly experience. He was one of those people that walked 10 miles in the snow to get to school, who also fought and endured the second world war. He was an incredibly gifted, kind and genuine businessman, started one of the first globally networked shipping companies, worked in the British Secret Service for a number of years, and moved to Australia to start a family.
He traveled the globe, even to the most remote locations for business, and later leisure, and learned a number of foreign languages. He was also an amazingly modest and polite man, always thinking before acting, and always acting respectfully to everyone.

There is no way I can describe him that will do him justice properly. Like anyone that knew him, I feel now that the world has lost an incredible and remarkable person who gave so much to so many people. There is something to be learnt from everyone you ever meet, and Ted Ross had the most amazing things to teach.

We will all miss you.

James