Happy Mother’s Day! Thank you to all that provide the most special and important gift of a Mother’s love.

Thank you for taking care of our children, the most important blessings in our lives.

Thank you to those who fill the role of Mom when it becomes vacant by tragedy, fate or circumstance.

A Mother’s love is pure and unwavering. There is nothing more important to an infant or toddler then the security, love and nurturing of their Mom. Dad, they need your help and support but your work begins a couple years after the child comes into the world.

Moms, thank you for doing all those things that become routine and just expected. Laundry, cooking, cleaning, getting the uniforms clean, providing taxi service for the kids and their friends, the list could go on and on.

Thank you for taking care of those situations when a child just wants their Mom whether they’re not feeling well or just need someone to talk to. Moms seem to be always patient and understanding. No matter what happens during the course of her child’s life, Mom has her babies back and will be there through thick or thin. The bond of motherhood is unwavering.

Make the time on Mother’s Day to show all those in your life that provide that special love how much they are appreciated. Do not forget the Grandmothers who seem to give more and more of themselves in today’s world. Teach your children the importance of all those every day things that go unnoticed and say thank you to whoever is providing that motherly love and caring.

I know many of you flipped to my page for my thoughts on what has occurred in Baltimore. I will cover that in detail next week. I pray that peace and commonsense have replaced hatred and lawlessness.

Under no circumstance should the acts of violence, looting, arson and destruction be tolerated in our Country. Nothing is accomplished by this other than more hatred and violence. This has nothing to do with any right of the First Amendment; it is pure and simple thuggery.

We would never allow any militia group to attack an American city this way. It should be dealt with as domestic terrorism. We would never allow people to come into our Country and commit these actions. Why would we allow anyone, no matter color, race or their beliefs to behave like this? It is mind-boggling to me.

Please remember the family of Freddy Gray who are mourning this Mother’s Day. They pleaded for calm and a peaceful remembrance of their son. Don’t allow the actions of a few Black Americans to define all the good being done by proud, hard-working, God-fearing Americans of the same color. It is not about the color of the skin, it’s about the character from within. This applies to everyone.

One of the all time good guys left us this past week. Mr. Robert Wayne Grantier. Mr. Grantier had retired from the Loyalsock Superintendent position only a year ago. He was looking forward to spending more time with family and friends doing things he wanted to do. Unfortunately for us here in the mortal world he is gone.

God has gained a wonderful man of integrity. He served the community of Troy for 31 years. Mr. Grantier was all about our children and education whether it was in the classroom as a teacher or on the football field as a coach. He ascended to the principal position and up the ranks finishing as the superintendent. His focus never wavered it was always about the kids, the community and their school.

Mr. Grantier came to the Township in 2009 and made an immediate impact on the Loyalsock School District. I was fortunate to have his long time friend Denny Stopper coaching middle school football with me at the time.

Denny introduced us and I immediately knew how special Mr. Grantier was. He reminded me a lot of my father. He would show up at our Middle School football practice, he came to almost every game. But it wasn’t just Lancer football, every event I would go to, there he was. He was not a superintendent, he was an ambassador and a leader of every program the school had and any program the students wanted.

I enjoyed talking football with Mr. Grantier, again he reminded me of my Dad, there was always positive comments about the team followed by things needing improved. I loved this about both, a “that a boy,” followed by, “now let’s get better.” At my Dad’s remembrance, Mr. Grantier spoke a few private words to me, at the end he said he felt the same way. He had no idea how much that meant to me.

To his wife Shirley and Sons, Jacob, Nathan and Seth, they don’t come any better than your Husband and Father. The lives he touched over the years are unfathomable. My thoughts and prayers go out to you.

(See Mr. Grantier’s obituary at Webbweekly.com)

God Bless America.