miss my gramps

william ralph andersen is one of the best men i have ever known. 

i love him and miss him tremendously. 

he was a rad dude.

to explain this headstone a bit, my grandpa was a plant geneticist and taught genetics at byu for a long time. one of his greatest heroes was gregor mendel who was the father of genetics and he mapped the genome for the pea plant and paved the way for so many geneticists... my grandfather included. because of mendel's pioneering research, my grandpa was the first to map the genome of corn.
 hence the reason for the pea plant engraved around the outside of the stone and a gene strand in between my grandma and grandpa's names.
also, if any of you have heard the hymn "if you could hie to kolob" you may recognize the inscription "there is no end to spirit." my grandpa passed away from cancer and the weeks leading up to his death, he was pretty much unconscious from all of the pain killers he was on. there were a few times that he would come to and most of the time he would say things that made no sense. my mom and i knew that this hymn was one of his favorite hymns so we sang it to him every now and then. the last time that i was able to talk to him, and hear his voice, he lifted his head and looked up at me and said, "there is no end to spirit..."
like i said, he was a cool dude.