The infamous "Harry O"

Me and my grandpa.

This is S. Harry Orfanos; the son of Harry and Irene Orfanos and father to six children. He loved math and was really good at it. He was a civil engineer and served Imperial County loyally until his retirement.

Most importantly - to me, at least - he was my grandfather. One of two wonderful grandfathers who filled my life with a lot of joy and a little well-planned frustration.

I was never good at math and when my mom got tired of me crying and throwing pencils across the room, she reached out to my grandpa. (Good move, mom. I wouldn't have wanted to work with me anymore, either.)

My antics didn't take place in my grandfather's house. I don't remember whether it was because he was a strict tutor, or I just wouldn't dare pull that crap with my grandpa, but I was to learn math and that was all there was to it.

"Math is important, mija," he would tell me. "You need to learn it. Do these problems."

"These problems" was a workbook. Not the work I had to do for school, but special math problems and riddles to solve using math. The first time I saw that workbook, I wanted to cry. But I didn't. I took that book in my little hands, said "OK, grandpa," grabbed a pencil and tried to solve the problems. When I couldn't, he would tell me what I was doing wrong, but he wouldn't solve the problem for me. I had to do that for myself.

He was a no-nonsense kind of guy. Not the kind of tutor that would sugar coat things, but not one who would be ultra hard on you for making a mistake, either. He was a Marine, and he conducted himself with the poise and stern demeanor one would expect from a Marine all his life. He treated people with respect and he was respected in return. He was known by the public as "Harry O."

He loved his family, took care of his friends and gave his heart and soul to his church, Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Calexico, Calif. In fact, you can see the contributions he and my grandmother made to the church with a visit to their Parish Hall. I was married in that church and my reception was held in the hall they were dedicated to getting built so their fellow parishioners could have a place to celebrate.

My grandfather was the kind of man you don't find often nowadays.

He was taken from us last year after getting cancer in his liver. His illness struck suddenly and took him in a matter of months. His cancer was inoperable.

It seemed unfair at the time, that he would get such a rare form of cancer that progressed so quickly we didn't even really have time to accept what was going on before he was gone. But it is said that great people are taken quickly so they suffer less.

I will miss my grandpa for the rest of my life.

Some days I wake up and forget he's gone and the realization that he's no longer here brings back the pain of this loss all over again. But it motivates me to keep running with the DetermiNation team and keep raising money for the American Cancer Society.

Even in death, my grandpa and other members of my family you will learn more about in the months to come keep up their good work through others motivated to honor their memory by paying it forward. That, in my opinion, is the ultimate legacy.