Dear Family and Friends,
-This obituary or bio, is a composite from Grant N. Wetzel's family; his Wife Ruth, their children, grandchildren and great grand children.
On July 25th, 2017, the Head of the Wetzel family household departed from this temporal realm, ascending to Life Eternal with our loving, Lord God Almighty and reunited with family and friends gone before.
He is survived by his wife, Ruth G. Wetzel, 93, Gretchen P. Saaduddin (Reseda), 70, David B. Wetzel (Laguna Beach), 68, Kristin K. Meyer (Waianae) 66, his brother Garlan L. Wetzel, 95, and Garlan's wife Edyth Wetzel (Costa Mesa)93. The grandchildren: Erik Paul (Santa Rosa) 42, Jason C. Meyer, (Colorado) 42, Aaron D. Meyer, (Hawaii) 40, Joshuah D Meyer, (Colorado) 38, and great grandchildren, Aunaka Grace A. Paul (Santa Rosa) 3 1/2, Jacob G. Meyer (Colorado) 9, and Makenna T. Meyer (Colorado) 14.
Grant N Wetzel was known for his tall stature, strength, super "Renaissance Man" intelligence, can do attitude, outlandish "Old Saws" and profound words of wisdom and guidance to his own children and then the grandchildren.This was all tempered with Grant's very strict adherence to discipline and respect. Even the great grandkids loved his uniqueness.
A staunch Lutheran, he and his wife of 72 years, Ruth G. Wetzel, contributed much to the support of St. Paul's Lutheran Church, as well as maintenance of any electrical sound equipment and infrastructure. The Church was also a very important part of his family.
Family was always #1 to him. And his inquisitive nature kept everyone on their toes and on course in life, and a lot of that quirk was inherited by family members as well.
Grant grew up in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, born on July 30, 1920 to Grace Newport Wetzel (a vivacious and hard working homemaker), and George Albert Wetzel (a strict and loyal meat inspector for Wilson Meats of Cedar Rapids).
Electrical Engineering (radio) was Grants particular interest and though he had no formal schooling, he worked his way up from a sound and radio technician at a circus (even got to dance with a bear).After graduating from McKinley High School, and his brief circus stint, he was hired by Arthur Collins as one of Collins Radios, first lab techs, and then he was drafted by the US Army.Arthur Collins, having seen Grant's engineering talent, wanted him to have a more formal education and requested that Grant be transferred to the Navy for inclusion in their radio/electrical engineering school, as Collins handled all the aviation radio contracts at the time. During this time he also worked with the Navajo Code Talkers.Many years later at the NAMM show in Anaheim, he actually got to meet one of the last living code talkers by the name of Samuel Tom Holiday.This gave Grant so much pleasure, because this code talker excitedly talked about enjoying his work with the Collins engineers, and using their excellent radios and cyphers. This Navy schooling changed his life.After he left the Navy but was still under contracts with the military he invented and wrote the patent for the automatic volume control system, still used at rock concerts, radio stations and performance venues all over the world. He was a prolific inventor and passed that talent to his son David.
Grant continued working for Collins Radio but turned down a transfer to Dallas for a lateral transfer to California, to be near his mother, brother and sister-in-law. The company grew and eventually moved from Burbank to become Rockwell-Collins in Newport Beach in the 60s.
After years of working for Collins, a new and exciting opportunity was presented which would utilize his ingenuity and problem solving skills (National/Regional Sales Head, for Hach Chemical, Co.). This was to work for a new water analysis company started by his talented high school friend, scientist and inventor Clifford Hach, along with his wife Katherine (Kitty- who would become a well respected scientist and aviator, in her own right). Grant was able to enjoy the growth of the company from it's humble garage beginnings to finally becoming the first and foremost driving force in water quality analysis and testing, being bought by Danaher years later.
In the 70s he retired, and he and Ruth enjoyed traveling around the world (as Grace, his mother did) on their daughter Kristin's, airline passes. Visits to Iowa, Hawaii and other U.S. locales were the norm for them, as well.
They lived in Laguna Beach, California from May 1960 to the present, in the same home they paid pennies for back then. Dad paid only $1000 over the amount they got from the sale of their beautiful home in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, which both Grant and Ruth built with their own hands, from the ground up, brick by brick with summer help from his folks and brother. They got a beautiful ocean view instead. They basically exchanged one beloved home for another, which was a huge accomplishment.
In 1993 Laguna experienced a major fire.Residents were ordered to evacuate for their safety, but Grant and his son David stayed behind not to protect only their own home, but all the other homes in the neighborhood as well. The next morning the Fire Department Chief made a special visit to profusely thank Grant and David for their accomplishment of extinguishing the fires on 11 neighboring homes. Because there was not enough fire fighting manpower available and the powerful Santanna winds were so strong, if it had broken through, "the next, last line of defense, was to be Crown Valley Parkway. 10,000 homes away," which would have burned if his neighborhood had fallen.They ultimately were able to control the fire by using the neighborhoods high water pressure, garden hoses, left out in the yards when all the neighbors evacuated, and ladders, buckets of water and soaked beach towels to quench embers on shake shingle roofs and chemical respirator masks to overcome the alkalinity of the thick smoke. So many homes were saved by their bravery and quick thinking, a commemorative event by the neighbors, including our dear friends Stan and Toni Flores, and famous board shaper and entrepreneur Shaun Stussy took place with awards given to father and son, Grant and David. They were also honored by the City of Laguna Beach in another ceremony at City Hall.
Grant and Ruth's love story started during WWII. The couple were introduced by Grant's parent's neighbors and wonderful friend Rita McCune. The courtship progressed nicely with one memorable bump in the road, when Grant would pull up in front of Ruth's abode in his Ford Mdl. A and announce over the loud speaker he had installed in his car (ever the radio man) "Hello Chicken, here's your coup" for the whole neighborhood to hear, enraging Ruth's aunt and sister. Finally in 1945 Grant took leave from the Navy at Christmas, to marry his sweetheart, Ruth. After marriage, Ruth joined Grant in Corpus Christi where he was stationed. Upon discharge, he resumed his job at Collins Radio and residence in Cedar Rapids with Ruth.
Grant's other love was his 1966 yellow Mustang that he purchased new and has to this day. This Mustang and the 1965 Mustang he purchased with Gretchen's hard earned $600 formed a special bond as the two embarked on a long restoration project on Gretchen's car during her weekends and vacations. Dad always called Gretchen "Getchie Goomie", his "Beautiful Indian Princess" and made his eyes light up every time she entered the room, even to the end.He was the first to point out how important this name was, as Gretchen actually did marry an Indian man (Saad) born in Calcutta.
Grant loved his walks along the boardwalk with family and friends, his picnics in Heisler Park eating "Ruthie Fried Chicken" and her special potato salad that went with it. He also loved taking his family on camping trips to the national parks such as Sequoia, Yosemite, Death Valley, Niagara Falls, the Dunes of Lake Michigan, Canada, Mexico, climbing Mt. Whitney and many weekend and local day trips, such as exploring the fire trails here in Laguna and Saddleback Mountain, after church on Sunday with a deliciously filled picnic basket. On one exploration of Saddleback mountain a very large orange area visible from the Top of the World, prompted an adventure up the fire trail and over the top. About 3/4 of the way up, we found that it was hatching time for a sea of gillions of Lady Bugs. In some places this living carpet was over a foot thick. What a lifetime of memories he created for his grateful family, visiting friends and relatives who joined in these exciting and memorable adventures.
The grandkids remember him in his aloha shirts and ever present straw hat, carrying either a still or movie camera to capture memories.They remember his words of wisdom----"grrrrr!" if he was displeased with them, "keep your pants zipped" as the boys got older, "that was a whole life's work for a chicken", if they didn't clean their plates, "Booooy" for his show of amazement.More famous sayings were "interest should be comingg in, not goingg out", "I wouldn't trade you for a stubbed toe", "I didn't come here to be made sport of".The grandkids said that "no one can say it like grandpa". "He was the best grandpa"." Grandpa and grandma would take the grandkids to Disneyland, Knotts Berry Farm, Marine Land, Sea World, and others, every year without question, and for no reason other than that he loved them beyond measure!".....Unanimously; The Grandkids.There were more sayings that mean so much to the kids as they grew up with their grandpa and as he took part in guiding their lives.
Grant would never consider himself to be a Saint, though he possessed so many saintly attributes. His family misses him greatly and we will always remember him fondly, for generations to come. His legacy was love, faith and accomplishment in his own original, quirky way