As I've said before, most people who read this blog are in my immediate family, so I don't have to announce that my Grandpap passed away. However, I can't go on writing about mundane things with out writing a little bit about him. I don't want this to be an obituary or an eulogy, because I think someone more qualified should write something special to commemorate his life.
To me, Grandpap was a quiet Grandfather who seemed old to me ever since I could remember, yet for many, many years, he never got any older. Grandpap would come on some family vacations with us and he would also go jeeping and shooting with Dad and sometimes I would be there too. Grandpap and I would write letters back and forth, me trying to think up things that he might find interesting about my life, and him probably doing the same! Grandpap's were the only letters I ever received that were "just because" and not a note included in a birthday or holiday card. He used to use a typewriter, then he hand wrote the letters, then he tried to go back to the typewriter but it never would cooperate so he went back to writing. I thought he had very distinctive writing and he always wrote "though" as "thou." I never knew if that was shorthand, if I was spelling it wrong all this time, or if that was just his way of doing it. Just now my spell checker didn't pick it up, so maybe it is one of those words that can be spelled two different ways.
Living so far apart from someone for your entire life, it is hard to get to know them, but that doesn't mean you don't love them. Grandpap was a good grandfather. He was kind and tolerant, especially towards us kids and our lame tennis playing skills. He always remembered my birthdays and sent me a card. He contributed quite a bit over the years towards my advanced education fund.
I ate lunch with Dad on Wednesday and we talked about Grandpap. Did you know he was an avid golfer, tennis player and horseback rider? The last one surprised me too. He was drafted at 30 for WWII and his higher than average intelligence lead him to become a bomb sight and autopilot technician. I think the bomb sight was the Norden Bomb Sight, one of the great American technological secrets of WWII. Since Granpap fixed them he also had to be able to use them, which meant he was also trained as a bombardier. He met Grandma at a USO dance and after he was discharged he returned to PA and lived there the rest of his life. Obviously throwing out these few tidbits about his 97 years of life doesn't begin to do him justice, but all of this was new to me, so I thought I'd share.
As Kurt mentioned in a comment in Claire's blog, Dad had a... what should I call it...experience that I think is much more than coincidence. In brief, Dad was hiking, reflecting on his father the day that he died. He had been hiking more in valleys but was coming to an area where he could see more of the surrounding area. He stopped for some lunch and heard a low flying aircraft. Looking up, he saw it was the civilian version of the AT-11, which is what Grandpap flew in when troubleshooting the bomb sights. If I did my research correctly, this plane is called the C-45. Under different configurations, according to one website, there are only 33 of these aircraft left in the entire world, and of those 33, I have no idea how many are capable of flying and how many are static displays in museums. If dad had reminded in the valley, he wouldn't have been able to see the aircraft because it was flying low on the horizon. If the plane had come before or after he stopped he wouldn't be able to see it due to his position. You tell me- what are the odds that on the very day that his father passed away, my dad was in the exact right spot at the exact right time to see an extremely rare aircraft that is directly connected to his dad? I think the odds are so low they are non-existent. I think Grandpap was sending a message that he is watching over us from above.
Good-by Grandpap. I miss you.
One of the 33 that is clearly not the one Dad saw since it doesn't appear to be airworthy.
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Of course I was unable to put into words all I wanted to say. I wish I could have done a better job of commemorating a good life and a good Grandfather and all the things that I feel towards and about him.
1 comment:
Marla, that was very beautiful and much better than anything I could have written. I agree with everything you said, he was a very good Grandpap to all of us. I also had no clue he liked to golf, or what his job was in the Army.
It is very sad and scary to me how easily a person's history can be lost once they die. I think what we all want is to be remembered. And Grandpap will be.
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