In sixteen short years, Grant managed to touch more people's lives than most people do in a lifetime. In the few days since his passing I have watched hundreds of his fellow students, family friends, and members of our South Carolina community come forward to pay their respects and share our grief over this sudden, tragic loss. The stories of joy and friendship they shared with Grant are unending. And despite our unbearable sorrow, his legacy is one of hope, laughter, joy and friendship to all that knew and loved him.

Special note: When I started this page, I thought writing about Grant's wonderful sixteen years on earth would be relative straightforward, but it is not. I don't know how to encapsulate all the happiness and joy he brought to our lives in a few hundred or few thousand words or pages. So, I don't know if I will ever be able to write down his life story, but over time I will try and record my thoughts and memories and perhaps be able to paint enough of a picture to allow others to see what he meant to us.  

Early Years

Grant was born in Atlanta, Georgia on September 21, 1990 in Northside Hospital. He was our second child and a joy from day one. Grant never cried and always seemed to have a smile on his face. From a very early age he constantly followed around his older brother, Gerald, who was two and a half years his senior.

At one stage in their early years, Grant would usually say whatever Gerald had just said, trying very hard to repeat it word for word and with the same inflections as his brother. Wanting to emulate his older brother was a trait Grant would demonstrate again and again and was a sign of his love for him.

We lived in Roswell, just north of Atlanta from 1990 to 1995 and during that period, we  made wonderful friends in our neighborhood, Wexford. All our children were very young ranged in ages at that time from about five years old down to babies when we all found each other in Roswell. Together with the Agarths, Pattersons, Foleys, Whelans, Youngbloods, Kramers, and many others I know I have forgotten to mention, we formed our own little Camelot and life was truly magical in our suburban world.

Grant was a rolly-polly little toddler and carried his baby fat around for a few years. His chubby little smile was always a delight and apart from not wanting to be put down at times, he never fussed or had tantrums. When we traveled by plane, we were always complimented on how well behaved both the boys were. Once he had a cracker in a restaurant, he was happy and I can honestly never remember a time when we were out as a family and either of the boys created a fuss. Life was very good.

As a stay at home Mom, Kim spent all her time with the boys and they had a wonderful childhood. Their days were full of "Moms and Tots" outings, visits to the zoo, painting and coloring, swimming in the community pool and playing with their wonderful friends.

Grant started school at the Montessori school in Roswell.

More to come....