RYAN
Happy birthday Grandpa....I say Grandpa, but often times I wonder what nick names we may have chosen for each other. I’ve heard about the “Gentle Giant,” I’ve even heard about “Bumpy Wint.” I can actually tell you a story about that one. One day as I was walking into my office building, this was probably in 2013 or 2014, a complete stranger, a much older gentleman walked up to me and said....no, he ‘told’ me “You must be Bumpy Wint’s grandson!” I had heard about that nickname only maybe once or twice before, so with confidence and pride I replied with a smile and a “Yes, yes I am.” I don’t think I managed to get his name but, I thought that was pretty amazing. That without a doubt someone from your past could point that out.
There’s so much I know I got from you, I see it not just in my slim/athletic appearance and facial features, but also in my gestures or mannerisms. As a matter of fact it’s in all of your grandsons.
Another thing I can’t help but wonder is how much of my personality I got from you. I admire you so much, every area of your life.
I love hearing people speak of you, I can’t help but wish I got a chance to know you. I remember feeling defeated and like a disappointment at one point, comparing my life to yours and seeing all the things you had accomplished by my age. I still don’t feel like I’m even half the great man you were, but I do remember the moment I cried tears of joy because I didn’t feel like a disappointment anymore. It was the day before I got baptized and declared Jesus as my Lord and Savior. I felt both you and Grandma looking down on me from heaven and you were so proud of me. That decision has shaped my life forever, and the life of my family (I’m married to an amazing, beautiful, loving woman of God, her name’s Azia) and my future children.
There’s so much more I want to reflect on and share with you.
The last thing I will say though is thank you...even in death you have helped bless my life, because of your heart to serve and help others. I was able to get my foot in the door of an internship program at one of the top financial institutions in the country back in 2012, and that was all because of you....A man by the name of David Fitz-Henley, a Calabar old boy and apparently the husband of a woman who’s life you saved while you were a doctor. He was forever indebted to you and he did whatever he could to help get me into a finance job after college. I built my investment banking career over the next 4 years, and so again I just wanted to say thank you.
As I write this the day before Mother’s Day, of course I want to say thank you for raising such amazing women (I love you Aunty Valerie and Aunty Alison), for blessing me with my amazing mother (Colleen). Both her and my father raised me right, and I’m just so grateful for everything you’ve done for our family. I love you and I can’t wait to see you again one day, I have so many questions.
Happy 100th birthday!