John Sumilat

Grandpa was named Johannes Sumilat, nicknamed "Andow" - a name shortened from Walandow, Grandpa's mom's maiden name. Grandpa was born to Wilhelmus Sumilat and Jochebeth Walandow.
He was born on October 6 1923 in Kakas, Manado, Indonesia. He had 1 brother and 4 sisters.
Educated as a nurse, he moved to Java in 1952 and worked in Adventist Hospital from 1952 to 1970 when the family moved to California then worked in Santa Fe Hospital, Los Angeles for 10 years. Later, the family moved to Loma Linda and he worked at the Medical center for about 7 years.
On Jan. 2, 1956, he married Grandma, Mary Sitompul and was blessed with 2 children, Jean and James, children - in - law : Maringan and Lilian, and 4 grandchildren :Tiffany, David, Ashlee, and John James
His hobbies included walking in nature, gardening, and cooking for the family
He loved listening to music, especially old gospel songs and Bill Gaither collections
His favorite Bible verses are from the book of Psalms about praising the Lord.
Things that brought him joy: visits from children and grandchildren and other relatives, especially from Kakas. He looked forward to Friday night dinner when the children and grandchildren would come over and eat together.
In 1987, Grandpa had heart surgery to replace his mitral valve that was probably caused by childhood illness. In 1997, he had his second surgery to replace that valve again. grandpa did fairly well after the 2 heart surgeries. Both grandpa and grandma walked about an hour almost every day. About 5 years ago, grandpa started to,have shortness of breath and told the family that he would not last much longer. But God gave him more years with the help of medications.
In 2007, we were able to take him to his hometown, Kakas, and spent some time with his relatives and visited his house, he grew up in.
last year, Grandma noticed Grandpa started to slow down. However, Grandpa continued to do his daily walk, work in the yard, and cook for family dinner on Friday.
in January, 2011, grandpa had his first hospitalization for pneumonia. Ever since that, Grandpa complained of being tired. yet, he continued to do his daily walk and helped around the house, although his speed had slowed down more and had to take frequent rests.
In May, Grandpa was still able to attend the wedding of his nephew, Andrew Sitompul. In June, grandpa attended my college graduation from La Sierra University.
In July, grandpa had his second hospitalization, during which time the cardiologist told us that grandpa had only 6 months left due to his heart failure. Grandpa started to get weaker and more tired and told us that he would not make it to his 88th birthday.
However, God blessed us with more time that we were able to celebrate grandpa's 88th birthday. Shortly after his birthday, grandpa became much weaker, requiring a wheelchair to go to church. he stopped doing his daily walk. occasionally, he would let Grandma take him to walk to the front yard.
By early November, grandpa was totally dependent on Grandma for everything. my mom put grandpa into hospice care by the second week of November. Grandpa still had some appetite, but could not eat a lot. So instead he ate small meals almost every three hours.
On Sabbath, November 19, grandpa was anointed by pastor Sangari. Grandpa was alert, but was sleeping a lot more for being tired.
On Monday, November 21, Grandpa was able to walk with help and had lunch with grandma and both grandsons. We all had a good time. By that night though, Grandpa was short of breath, but still responding appropriately.
Tuesday morning, at 1:46, Grandma called all of us. Grandpa was not talking but had his eyes opened. We prayed and talked with grandpa. At 7 am my dad called our extended family and almost everyone was at the house by 8 am. By 9 am, there were 5 ministers at the house, who offered prayer and anointed grandpa. Grandpa went into coma by 10:30 in the morning,and went to rest in Jesus at 7:43 pm on Tuesday, November 22, awaiting for Jesus to wake him up and reunite all of us in Heaven.

Arrangements under the direction of Montecito Memorial Park & Mortuary, Colton, California.