The following was written by my 15 year old granddaughter, in April 2007. She and Denny were very close and this is a tribute to him and his impact on her life. This was a TAKS Written Composition on which she received a grade of 90 (due to punctuation).

If I Could Go Back In Time -
by Courtney Renee Thompson

If I could go back in time and change something, I would want to bring my grandfather back. He passed away on February 28, 2005, at United Regional Health Care Hospital. He was only 60 years old. My grandfather (Poppy) was like a father to me. Whenever I had problems, he was the first person that I would run to. He was the only one who could make me smile when I was feeling down.

My poppy was always there for me, no matter what. I remember how we used to ride my 4-wheelers together, and we would play hide-and-go-seek with them. He would always find hard hiding places, and I could never find him. I really do miss playing that with him. I don't ride my 4-wheelers anymore because it brings back a lot of memories, and I begin to cry, wishing that he was still here.

It is hard to believe that he passed away 2 years ago, because to me it seems like it was just yesterday.

My poppy loved to watch westerns, and while he watched them, he would always eat peanut butter crackers. It was funny.

Furthermore, on our spare time we would put puzzles together. My poppy and I really enjoyed that. We would put the 500 or 1,000 piece puzzles together.

He had a Harley Davidson, and everywhere he went, I would go too. There were these poker runs that he and I would go along on. A lot of people would go on the poker runs. There was this one game that we played at the poker run meets, and we won it together. It was a lot of fun.

When I was a little girl, my poppy taught me my very first word. My parents couldn't believe it, but they found it pretty funny. My poppy and I liked to go to the movie theater and watch comedy movies. We would go a lot.

That's my essay on what I would want to change.