A tribute to my Grandpa who graduated from this world two weeks ago

What can be said about Poppi Coles. Sometimes it is hard to talk about a man that didn’t do much talking himself. But fools speak while wisdom listens, so I know that he was a wise man. And I know he was a very knowledgeable man, because he read about a million books.

When I think of Poppi I think of a very kind and gentle man who took life in stride. I remember sitting and talking with Nanni and Poppi in their old flat in London. Poppi would just sit and enjoy the conversation around him and have a good laugh to him self as we carried on.

Poppi was also more able bodied than most of us thought. I remember the last time I saw Nanni and Poppi in their flat. It was maybe the first time Fiona met them. We were sitting in the living room and Poppi leant forward to get up, but in doing so knocked his cane over. Well in a flash, before it hit the floor, Poppi reacted and swooped his good hand down to grab it. We were totally shocked to see how fast his reaction was. And Nanni’s comment was classic. She said, “one side might not work that well, but the other side still moves like lightning.” We all got a great laugh out of this, especially Poppi, who almost lost his breath he was laughing so hard.

I wish that I had the chance to spend more time with Him. I wish that I could have sat down and listened to him more, because I bet he had a lot of great things to say and great stories to tell.

But at the end of the day He was just a normal guy who tried to live his life the best he could, and probably made a lot of mistakes along the way. He was a man who just ran the race, and he finished the race. He didn’t seem to do anything fancy, but he certainly left a legacy. 5 sons, 11 grandchildren, and 4 great grandchildren, and he gave us all the opportunity to know the God of the Universe.

You can’t say much more for a man than that.