"You don't know what this means to me, you don't know what this means to me," 108-year-old Esmond Allcock repeated during their meeting.
Esmond Allcock has been alive for 108 years, and in that time, he's met more than 70 children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and even great-great-grandchildren.
But his latest descendant is the first to be Allcock's namesake.
“You’re a pretty good looking guy,” Allcock could be heard saying to his great-great-grandson in a video of their first interaction.
A few of his descendants have the middle name Esmond, but his great-great-great-grandson, born last year, was the first to take on his first name.
"They just stared at each other. He was just muttering to him and kissing him. He was saying, ‘You don't know what this means to me, you don't know what this means to me,'" the baby’s mom and Allcock’s great-granddaughter, Jenna Lambiris, told InsideEdition.com. “I almost cried right there."
Lambiris explained that her great-grandfather didn’t quite recognize her when he met her son, asking, “Do I know you? Should I?” But the pair has always had a strong bond, ever since she was a child.
During large family reunions where dozens of great-grandkids played together, “he would always pick me out of the crowd,” she recalled.
"I knew that we wanted to honor him in some way,” Lambiris said. "After we decided on the name, my grandmother told him. The next day, she texted me and said, 'I hope you don’t change your mind. He’s over the moon.'"
Her son, who has an older brother named Jasper Demetre Darren, was born on Jan. 11, 2017. He met his great-great grandfather for the first time in April. It is a 10-hour trip for her family to visit Allcock at his assisted-living facility in Kerrobert, Saskatchewan, and Lambiris said she hopes pay him another visit soon.
Allcock, who has been declared the oldest man in Canada, was born in 1910, four hours away in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan and spent most of his life as a farmer.
When asked about his secret to longevity earlier this month on his 108th birthday, he said, “I got a really good wife.”
His beloved Helen died seven years ago after a battle with dementia, and Allcock has stayed single since, despite several single ladies also residing at his assisted living facility.
“I think he’s still pretty partial to grandma,” his grandson Vince Lehne told InsideEdition.com.
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