Obituary

We've A Story To Tell -- A note from Terri to Robert
We've a story to tell to the nations, that shall turn their hearts to the right,  a story of truth and mercy, a story of peace and light, a story of peace and light.
We've song to be sung to the nations that shall lift their hearts to the Lord, a song that shall conquer evil and shatter the spear and  sword, shall shatter the spear and sword.
We've a message to give to the nations--that the Lord who reigneth above hath sent us His Son to save us and show us that God is love, and show us that God is love.
We've a Savior to show to the nations Who the path of sorrows hath trod, that all of the world's great peoples might come to the truth of God, might come to the truth of God.
chorus:  For the darkness shall turn to the dawning, and the dawning to noonday bright, and Christ's great kingdom shall come to earth, the kingdom of love and light.

For My Dear Husband, Robert Franklin  Graves

What can I say about the man I was married to for 35 years?  He was a man of very strong opinions; he w as a stickler for time, he loved to freak people out, even the caregivers.  When he first asked me to marry him,in a wheelchair and paralyzed except for his right arm, I was blown away.  I had to go home and figure out the right way to answer him.  So I came back the next day and told him, "No, but I will be your friend."  He was ok with that.  About 1 1/2 years later,I was housesitting for his parents while they came down to Tennessee to visit relatives, I looked through all his family albums, and I saw all that he had been through in his life, including his first marriage and his time in the Air Force.  it was then that everything hit me, and I think I cried rivers.  After that I believe the LORD spoke to me and said, "I want you to be his wife!"  Later, the LORD spoke to me again and told me HE would enable me and give me everything I need to be his wife and to take care of him.  Honestly, he seemed like a fish out of water at the nursing home, and he had so much life left in him. It blew me away when he stuck his neck out in his condition to ask me to marry him, one month after we had met.  He has very warm and understanding of me and the struggles I was going through at the time.  He was very open with me in describing what he went through in Vietnam as a crew chief on a tanker, refueling planes.  Robert was a very brave and fearless man.  He survived many horrible experiences, being a crew chief.   He loved what he did, but he was ready to stay home after 4 years.  He married a childhood girlfriend and had Trevor and Travis.  When we got married, we knew we had our work cut out for us, but we believed that we could make it happen, especially with Jesusuilder who wou's help.  Then, two years later, we had our beautiful little daughter, Dawn.  She was the little girl Robert had asked for when he first asked me to marry him.  She brought much joy into our lives, and through her growing up period.  Robert didn't want to miss a moment of her being born, so he was there in the birthing room, right next the doctor, watching the whole thing!  He was a "gung ho" kind of person,it was all or nothing with him.  We were very surprised when we found out I was pregnant, because we didn't even know if we could have kids with Robert's paralysis.  We considered Dawn our miracle baby!  For a long time Robert and I wanted to be able to own our own home.  For five years we saved up and prepared for tis and we were able to get a low-income home loan with Farmer's Home Government Loan.  We moved to Vancouver, WA. from north Seattle, WA. to be closer to Trevor and Travis.  We found a builder who would build us a  within six months.  We lived in Camas 26 years.  Robert liked being free from rent and living in a neighborhood where he could get out and visit the neighbors, old and young.  He was a father figure to the young kids who didn't have dads.  He especially enjoyed getting to know our neighbor Larry, a biker dude who was ornery just like him and smoked cigars, just like Robert did.  They played tricks on each other and pulled no punches with each other.  They had a lot of good times and laughs with each other.  Larry hooked Robert up to his small trailer to haul branches, etc. to the recycle center.  So Larry got on his bicycle a nd he and Robert went  to the recycle place up the street.  Robert also loved recycling aluminum cans.  So all the neighbors and friends brought him cans.  When we were first married and Dawn was little, we would go to park and ride parking lots and pick up cans and take them to get $$ from can banks or later to grocery stores to a can dump, where we would get $.30 a pound.  Robert enjoyed many years of celebrating the 4th of July with our neighbor, Larry and all his buddies.  He always had plenty of fireworks to blow off.  Robert loved every minute of it.  He even got hit once or twice.  it burned a hole in his laprobe, but never touched him.  His sons all him a cat with nine lives!  Robert enjoyed living in Camas, on Russell St.  Later, Dawn grew up and married to Jedadiah Stewart and had four kids in Washington.  As the years went by Dawn and Jedadiah moved their family to Tennessee because costs of living went up in Washington so that they couldn't make ends meet.  Robert and I moved to Tennessee two years after Dawn and Jed and kids moved to Tennessee, because of Robert's health and to be with kids and grandkids. He greatly loved living in Camas , and he missed it alot. It took him awhile to adapt to living in Tennessee, but he got used to the warmer weather. He didn't lose his adventurous spirit when he moved here. We live on a hill here and roads are narrow. Still he thought he could get down the driveway ok, but then he tipped over on the grass when he got stuck in the drain trough alongside our driveway! Another time he wanted to visit the neighbor just down the hill from us and across the street. Well, he tried to back up the street when he was ready to come back, but he ended up being thrown into the ditch , when got to close to the edge , and his wheelchair tipped over and he landeed in a bed of leaves on his back! Each time the police men had to come and get him out, and they came to know him very well! Both times he wasn't hurt at all he said, just his pride was hurt! He loved being outside and in nature. He eventually grew take being here. Robert never lost his sense of humor, nor his wise cracks. He always had a smart mouth answer to every question! Clear until the end. Robert is greatly loved by his family; his sister Pam and his brother Ron, his two sons, Trevor and Travis, his daughter Dawn and son in law , Jedadiah , and his eight grand children. I still greatly love him and appreciate his love for me regardless of what we went through. It was strong from the beginning and through the years we were together. I'm so glad that we got together, Robert and that our love for God and for one another grew for the 35 years we were together.