Growing up, I always thought it was weird that my Grandma and Grandpa has their own rooms. I found out later it was because if my Grandpa was asleep and you touched him, he would pin you on the ground! I guess that was one of the effects from the war.
He liked to camp and fish. He was a campground host for a long time and we'd go visit him every summer. I remember one year there were bears that would come into camp at night. One night one came into our camp and I remember looking out of the window of the trailer and seeing it right there. Then my grandpa got up, in his long johns, and went out and scared it away. At the same time there was a sonic boom. So, I don't know if the sight of my grandpa in his underwear or the sonic boom scared it away, I just know it never came back! Then he took us fishing and my sister and I went off on our own a ways. I was fishing and I looked up and across the river were three black things. I took off screaming "bear". When I finally made it back to my Grandpa, he went to investigate and came back and told me they weren't bears, just three black cows. From that day on, no one in my family calls a cow a cow. It's a Kaylee Bear!
Shortly after my Grandma died in 2004, he found out that he had lung cancer. The doctor gave him months to live. Almost two years later he was still going strong. Then in July, 2006, I called him and he sounded like he was having trouble talking. He told me that he was having trouble swallowing. I told him to get to a doctor right away. He did. The cancer had spread to his brain. He went to hospice and he appeared healthy and alert until his last 2 days. He died peacefully on September 12, 2006. He was 90.
Here he is proving that a 6 1/2+ foot man can fit into a little sports car:
2 comments:
pthanks for posting this:) Lots of good memories!
Ya well, you wouldn't think that if the kids always called them Duhh Bears!!
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