I have similar memories with my grandfather.  I'm almost 40 and I've never met anyone that was more respected and deferred to in my life.  He was a pillar of the community/family.  One of my most cherished memories is when I woke up in the middle of the night and saw the kitchen light on and went down, it was probably 12am.  He pulled out a tupperware full of deer neckbones(with the meat) in red sauce and we sat there in silence and ate the whole damn tupperware full of them.