Community Chat

[MacDUFF]

I was pretty close to my paternal Grandfather.  He was always good to me, and I never heard anyone say anything bad about him.  Watching Bonanza, Jackie Gleason, and Saturday Night Wrestling with him every week is a good memory of him.  He was the kind of man who said "pull my finger," and thought it was funny every. single. time.

I kid you not, at his funeral, two guys who looked very much like these guys, showed up.  No one knew who they were.  They stayed by themselves whispering at the back of the room, fedoras pulled down to shade their eyes.  We still refer to one of them as "da nose."

That's all I'm gonna say.

[Mustang Shar]

I'm enjoying this thread! I hope you will jot down these special family memories so they can remembered by future generations perhaps attach a picture of the person to the comment.

My maternal grandfather, Iver IVERSON born 1894 was a quite man who loved to play cards and watch Gunsmoke. He didn't interact much with us grandkids, but loved having company over every Sunday for dinner.

My paternal grandfather, Arakel was an immigrant arriving in 1913. He was quiet too, but I remember he would always come sit on the front porch , using my Childcraft fairytale encyclopedia as a cushion! As soon as he came out, I made sure to complain he as sitting on my favorite book and please give it back. He'd laugh!  I was about 3-4 yrs old. He passed shortly after.

[sfnative]

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@LilacTree wrote:

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@June222 wrote:

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@sfnative wrote:

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@June222 wrote:

No memories at all. I never met any relatives from either side of my family.  Not a cousin...not an aunt. Family was not important to my parents...and grudges caused distance.  

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@June222

June,

My heart aches for you that grudges made it impossible for you to know your relatives.  My God that's horrible.  I'm really sorry this had to happen to your family.

~Rebecca

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@sfnative  I guess you do not miss what you never have known....thus distance carried into my life. My family lost touch as we grew up...no relationship with my sisters now for the past 20 years....nor my parents who both died and I had not spoke to them either for 20 years.  My parents taught us well.....  

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OMG, sfnative, I just finished responding to your post to me and then read this.  I am so very sorry that you have had to bear such unhappiness.  I am happy to hear that you did have grandfathers in your life whom you loved and who loved you. 

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@LilacTree

Hi Ford,

Yes, indeed.  After reading through these many posts I truly realize how fortunate I was to have two grandfathers in my life.  One lived in San Francisco, which is where I was born and spent most of my life (he was the Russian one) and the other one was also old country, but German.  He was my mother's fathers and that entire side of the family were/are farmers in southwest Michigan.  I was fortunate enough to be flown back to Michigan every other year to live and work on my grandparents farm for my entire summer vacation.  Believe me, it was a world away from San Francisco.  I learned a great deal from both my Grandfather and Grandmother and got to spend lots of time with all aunts, uncles and many cousins, not to mention great aunts, great uncles, and Great Great Aunt Marta, a minor Prussian Princess, I came to learn when visiting her with my new husband (She was 98 at the time and I was 21).  It didn't seem important or noteworthy at the time, but I realize now how fortunate I was.

[sfnative]

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@RedTop wrote:

I spent a lot of time at my paternal grandfathers side doing chores on the farm.  I hugged my grandpa often and remember the distinct smell of his salty sweat and pipe tobacco.  The last time I hugged my grandpa was days before he was taken to the hospital, where he died.  I hugged him and said I love you grandpa, and he said I love you too Redtop.  That was 45 years ago, and yet I remember it like it happened last week, because my grandpa had never actually said those words to me before; he always said yea in response.    

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@RedTop

Gosh, this brought back memories, as my maternal grandfather was a farmer in southwestern Michigan.  I was fortunate to spend a number of summer vacations with them and recall sitting on his lap as well.  He'd still have on his bib overalls and under those he had on the top of his long underwear.  I don't know how many times I asked him, "Grandpa, why do you wear your underwear so we can see it?"  Ha-ha-ha!  And, of course, he'd worked up quite a sweat, but he' also be smoking his pipe and I loved the smell of the pipe tobacco and the smoke.  One day he said, "Follow me, Becky, out to the big stump, as I'm going to teach you a lesson."  He was always doing this, as I was a "city girl" and he wanted to make sure he educated me in the ways of the land. This time on our way out to the huge tree stump we took a detour to the chicken coup and he grabbed a chicken.  "Oh, no," I thought, "Grandpa's going to make me watch him chop off the head of that chicken," as this was the function of that very large tree stump, which always had an axe in it.  Sure enough we ended up at the stump, he holding the chicken.  He didn't just chop off the head, he sort of lectured me about this being one means of putting food on the table, as well as all of the wonderful vegetables Grandma grew in her huge vegetable garden.  It all made sense and I was glad he took the time to explain it to me.  However, when the axe came down, I squeezed my eyes shut for a split second.  God Bless Grandpa Wil (Wilhelm Frederich...) - talk about German!

[sfnative]

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@Drythe wrote:

Seems that many of us did not have the opportunity to know our Grandfathers.

My Paternal Grandfather died when my father was 11.  My Maternal Grandfather came home from WWII in very poor health and died not long after my birth.

Wish I had known them.

I was blessed to know both Great-Grandfathers and adored them.

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@Drythe

Drythe,

I'm very happy for you that you knew both Great-Grandfathers.  I don't think many of us had that opportunity at all.  I only got to meet my maternal Great-Grandmother once and that experience was very special because of what her dog did.

I really hope that the current generation gets out of "me" and reaches out to their relations.  There are so many wonderful experiences just waiting to happen for them.

[sfnative]

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@daisyk wrote:

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@LilacTree wrote:

Unfortunately, I never had a grandfather.  They both died long before I was born.

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Me too, and my dad died when I was 12. I get a little envious of others sometimes but it is what it is and I've been fortunate in many ways.

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@daisyk

@LilacTree

I am sad for both of you.  If we had a "way-back machine," I'd make sure that grandparents were included for you both

[sfnative]

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@halfpint wrote:

I never knew them and didn't see any pictures. As for grand mothers only one wasn't around long to know and the other never knew.

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@halfpint1

Hi halfpint,

If I could turn back time and affect a change for you, it would be for you to have a pair of grandparents active in your life.

[Preds]

My paternal grandfather spent his life in a coal mine to support his wife and ten children.  He played ball with all his boys when he came home from the mines.  He loved listening to baseball on the radio and I would sit with him while he listened.  Later in life he recieved "Black Lung" for his life in the  mines and bought a new car.  He was so very proud of that new car. He didn't want his boys to go to the mines, so they all went in different directions when they graduated from high school.  Most went Military.  The girls married ... none miners.  He lived a hard life, a long life, and a life that he was very proud of ... as were his children, grandchildren and great-grand children.

[sfnative]

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@Mustang Shar wrote:

I'm enjoying this thread! I hope you will jot down these special family memories so they can remembered by future generations perhaps attach a picture of the person to the comment.

My maternal grandfather, Iver IVERSON born 1894 was a quite man who loved to play cards and watch Gunsmoke. He didn't interact much with us grandkids, but loved having company over every Sunday for dinner.

My paternal grandfather, Arakel was an immigrant arriving in 1913. He was quiet too, but I remember he would always come sit on the front porch , using my Childcraft fairytale encyclopedia as a cushion! As soon as he came out, I made sure to complain he as sitting on my favorite book and please give it back. He'd laugh!  I was about 3-4 yrs old. He passed shortly after.

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@Mustang Shar

Oh, Mustangshar, how very special!  Though both of my grandfathers were immigrant as well, the nature of their work required that they learn English quickly and converse quite a lot, so neither was very quiet.  Pensive, maybe. 

My German Grandfather taught me how to play Canasta and we got the cards out on evenings when he wasn't too exhausted from his farming duties.  He also taught me Whist, which I've totally forgotten how to play.  My paternal Grandfather taught me about the grocery business and how to up-keep rental properties, as he and my Grandmother had invested in quite a few flats in San Francisco.  He also taught me how to mix drinks, as Russians do like their adult libations!

[sfnative]

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@MacDUFF wrote:

I was pretty close to my paternal Grandfather.  He was always good to me, and I never heard anyone say anything bad about him.  Watching Bonanza, Jackie Gleason, and Saturday Night Wrestling with him every week is a good memory of him.  He was the kind of man who said "pull my finger," and thought it was funny every. single. time.

I kid you not, at his funeral, two guys who looked very much like these guys, showed up.  No one knew who they were.  They stayed by themselves whispering at the back of the room, fedoras pulled down to shade their eyes.  We still refer to one of them as "da nose."

That's all I'm gonna say.

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@MacDUFF

Anyone who has has the opportunity to become close to a Grandparent has been blessed.  There's a special kind of love going on there, for sure.