Great Grandpa

Henry Nisly

March 5, 1919 - February 21, 2011

Grandma and Grandpa at an auction. I would love to know what the secret was!

May 2010

June 2020 - Dad and Grandpa, such a typical scene.

August 2005 - Grandpa and Great Grandpa meeting Andrew (6 weeks old) for the first time.

August 2005 - 4 Generations

February 2006 - Great Grandpa playing on the floor with Andrew (7 months old)

February 2006

This was the eulogy I put together for Grandpa's funeral:

This is a collection of memories and thoughts of some of the grandchildren about Grandpa and his life.

Verlin's memories:
Just the other day at lunch I was telling my students some Grandpa stories. He used to use a knife and fork strategically placed to tell a story at the dinner table or pliers in the dust if it was outdoors. And at one time, he balanced seven checkbooks for different organizations. I also remember waiting until Grandpa finally made it to the table in the back room at the restaurant because he had to stop and talk to every third person. And the heifer calf he gave us grandchildren to raise sure motivated me to be a farmer!

Gina's memories:
We camped a lot as a family and grandpa would always say, "If you forgot something, check with Grandma, I'm sure she has it." Grandpa liked to tell stories that took a long time with every detail included. His shop was always messy, but he could walk right to the spot that the tool was that he needed. We used to swing on the swing in the shop, but we had to put our feet up higher than the seat so we wouldn't hit things as we swung. Grandpa loved to give us quarter horse rides, and he loved sugar in his popcorn. He always took an interest in everyone.

Matt's memories:
Grandpa was 11 years old during the great depression, so he learned not to throw anything away. He was always so happy to find something he could use to fix or make something from his junk pile that the average person would have thrown away years ago. When I bought the building site at the farm I ended up filling 7 of Stutzmans largest dumpsters. That's a lot of stuff!

Grandpa's favorite crop to grow and harvest was wheat. He remembered when wheat was 25 cents a bushel and said that wheat should continue to go up in price. Two years ago I told him that wheat was $8 a bushel and that triggered him to want to talk to me when nothing else seemed to get his attention.

He loved to play cards. Panic was one of his favorites because he liked to hold onto his cards until he could lay them all down at once and win.

He also loved to make things in his shop out of wood and metal like clocks, marble games and a sand box backhoe for the MCC sale.

I enjoyed going to the livestock sale with Grandpa and David in his red and white ford pickup. Even though he rarely bought anything at the sale barn, he would usually buy me a bottle of pop.
I also remember when we would spend the night at Grandpa's that both grandma and grandpa would read their Bibles before bedtime, setting a good example for us.

Sondra's memories:
He loved playing cards. When I would spend the day at their house, Grandma and I would play cards and when Grandpa would come in from choring he would sit and play with us. Any time he got a card he didn’t want, he would say in a disgusted tone “Oh bologna.”

When I was very young, I was sitting on Grandpa’s lap and I noticed that a few of his fingers were missing the tips. When I asked him what happened, he didn’t miss a beat and said with an ornery smile on his face, “Grandma got mad at me and cut them off." Grandma was standing nearby and rolled her eyes and said “Oh Henry!”

I always felt Grandpa’s blessing. In the early stages of his Alzheimer’s, it was hard for him to participate much in conversation, but every time we said goodbye, he would hug me and say “bless you.” There was never any doubt of his love for his grandchildren.

Ashley's memories:
When thinking of memories about my grandpa, there are few that don't include my grandma. While sadness overcomes us currently, I like to think of them together again in perfect health.
They had one of the greatest love stories I've ever experienced. I mean, how many wives take on their husband's first name as her own (Mrs. Henry Nisly) and how many husbands allow their initials to stand as the name on Tupperware? Every time I pull out a piece of their Tupperware, I read the initials HN.

Besides the kitchen though, their love for each other was shown to me as a little girl in card games, even though they bickered while they played. I can just hear it, "Oh Henry!" While it was grandma who enjoyed playing Rook, grandpa taught me the true Mennonite game of Panic! Just thinking about him getting disgusted and shoving his glasses up on his nose when a round didn't go his way makes me chuckle. And one must not forget that during these card games he was constantly cracking nuts of all sorts. To this day, family gatherings always include a large bowl of nuts centered in the middle of the table ready for cracking. This is your legacy grandpa!

Tanya's memories:
When I think about Grandpa, I think about quiet strength. He wasn't always the first to speak up, but when he did, you listened. Grandma may have done a lot of the talking for him, but she greatly respected him and I know she missed him horribly when he was no longer "Henry" and wasn't able to communicate with her. This horrible disease stole Grandpa from us a while ago, and I would always look for the twinkle in his eye and sweet smile when I went to visit him.

Grandpa had a servant heart. He was always available when anyone needed him and he loved to help those in need. He was very passionate about helping the people of Haiti and made several trips there to do volunteer work. He also loved helping with the MCC sale and the canner. And in his quiet way, he passed that passion on to his family.

Grandpa also loved his family. Whenever we would call, he would always get on the phone to listen. He didn't always get a chance to talk, but he wanted to know what the latest news was and how we were doing. He also loved his great-grandchildren. When Andrew was about 6 months old, Grandpa's back was really bothering him and he could barely get around. I left Andrew playing on the floor one evening and came back a few minutes later to find Grandpa laying on the floor next to him so he could play with him better. After I snapped a cute picture of them I scolded him for getting on the floor with his bad back and he basically told me that he could do what he wanted. End of conversation.

He also had an ornery streak, especially when it came to playing games. He loved to hold all the cards everyone needed, just to make us crazy and then that little twinkle would appear in his eyes and you knew you were sunk. He had amazing patience, and he would wait until just the right moment and finish the game, catching us all with a ton of points. This caused more than one family spat.

Grandpa loved ice cream and if you told him you were too full for dessert. He would say, "You can always eat ice cream. It melts in the cracks."

I remember sitting with Grandma and Grandpa at church and Grandpa always took lots of notes and he wrote down every prayer request in his little notebook. And I have no doubt he prayed for all of those requests daily. Grandpa may not be with us anymore, but he has left an amazing legacy and example for us to follow.