My mom is not the only loss that’s changed me in the past nine years. This is a special tribute to my adopted grandfather, Geddes Hanson.
On March 27, 2021 the world suddenly lost a revolutionary – I lost my grandpa.
Let me tell you a little more about the man I considered my hero. The man whose lap I’d sit on as he’d tell me stories about growing up in the 30s while smoking his pipe. The man who’d take my brother and I to the Princeton University student cafeteria to eat soft serve with sprinkles. The man who told me that I was as beautiful as Jackie and as strong as Diana. The man who would carefully cut out articles in the NYT to mail me at college. The man who had a seven decade long love for his wife that we others could only dream of.
Geddes W Hanson was one of the first African Americans to receive his Th.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary and one of their first faculty members of color. He was a Harvard Divinity School and Howard University graduate. For 40 years he was a professor, a mentor, a leader. He and his wife Carye opened their home to minority students who needed a home cooked meal and a place for the holidays – 49 years ago one of those students was my father.
I’m not ready to say goodbye to you. To think about a life without your laugh, your giant smile, or the way you’d stare and say, “I’m just taking a good long look at you.” You watched me come into this world and I am crushed watching you leave it. Who you are to me, who you will continue to be, will live on in the family you and Ma made. The children and grandchildren who wake up every morning feeling so thankful you chose us. I love you Pa.
xoxo
Miss Fuss
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