What are your fondest memories with your Grandparents?

[M.D. Holloway]

Our boy is now on his second week on the farm. These times are the makings of his fondest memories with his Papa - feeding the cattle, bailing hay, spreading manure, riding the quad (by himself), shooting the BB gun, pesting the barn kittens and countless hours with his cousins gettng into all sorts of mischeif. His face must be hurting from smiling so hard...

What are your favorite memories with your Grandparents?

[cool_chick]

Sadly, they were all passed away except for one grandmother. She died when I was 6.

All I remember is she had spiders in her bathtub and I was scared. They took me to her funeral, and I couldn't figure out why everyone was crying. I didn't understand death then I suppose.

LOL boring story, huh?

[Gooch1971]

Originally posted by LubeMaster77
Our boy is now on his second week on the farm. These times are the makings of his fondest memories with his Papa - feeding the cattle, bailing hay, spreading manure, riding the quad (by himself), shooting the BB gun, pesting the barn kittens and countless hours with his cousins gettng into all sorts of mischeif. His face must be hurting from smiling so hard...

What are your favorite memories with your Grandparents?

Though they have all passed, I feel truly blessed to have many great memories of my grandparents and great-grandparents.

With one set of grandparents my fondest memories are almost exactly as you described above. Except you left out fishing in their pond.

With my other grandfather, my brother and I would get up early so we could tag along to the donut shop where he played dominoes before another day of tinkering.

[CarreraCab]

I can still remember way back in the early 50's, my Grandmother taught me how to catch and clean fish, and to use the leftovers to fertilize the tomato plants. She was Austrian born, and with her accent used to call me "Duck". Her version of Doug. One summer up at the lake it was really hot, and I was wearing a set of coveralls ( Think Our Gang ) Well, she caught a bullfrog, and slipped it in my pocket. I was too scared to reach in and pull it out, but that thing kept kicking away. Thought I was going to die. Damn frog gave me nightmares for a week ! She was a wonderfull old country woman who taught me a lot. I still miss her.
Doug

[Moses]

The only grandparent I ever knew was my paternal grandmother. She was born in 1877 and lived 101 years. She was half Cherokee, half Comanche and all business. Deadly serious and mean as a snake. No warm cuddlies from that woman. Her disregard for me as a child warmed as I became an adult. She had no tolerance for kids.

When I was 17, I drove to Oklahoma to visit her. She opened up and told me great tales of her childhood in west Texas. Indian raids, tornados, drought, hardship, hunger, sharecropping and hard work. Always hard work.

She was the first Native American woman admitted to the University of Texas and became a schoolteacher. I don't really know if I loved my grandmother, but I respected and admired her.

[campbellcj]

I consider myself very lucky to have not only known my grandparents, but also 2 great-grandparents (albeit fairly briefly.)

One of the standout moments was fishing at an alpine lake in Utah with my maternal grandpa. I was around 6-7 at the time. He had a couple of old fishing/hunting buddies along and we were all camping out in the rough cabin they kept.

No kidding, at one point when we were lazily motoring and casting around the lake, I suddenly got a bite and it TOOK OFF with my little-kid pole!

It was one those kind with a cork-handle and we chased that eff'er around for quite some time before catching up to it, only to find that the fish had slipped the hook! But we got my pole back, and we had plenty of browns, rainbows and stories for a great dinner.

RIP, Grandpa...WWII and Korea Marine Corps vet BTW.

[IROC]

My Grandpa used to love to sit and watch Looney Tunes cartoons on Saturday mornings. This was back in the late '60s/early '70s. I used to sit next to him on the couch and watch them. I think he laughed more than I did. I still love Looney Tunes...

Mike

[rcm]

I was blessed to have all grandparents around thru my late twentys. My fathers father taught me how to drive when I was a young guy. Started in his lap at 10 or younger. My father now has the last car of grandfather's that I drove before he died, a 1972 Slylark convertible.

My other grandfather was working in the shop one day and I was hanging around with him.I was probably 9 or 10 at the time, I found a small key with the words "Presto" on it and asked him what it was. He told me it was the "key to it all". With it I could grow up and control my own destiny, be what ever I wanted etc... I still have the key and brought it with me to the closing when we just purchased a small company about two months ago. It's finally workin' Pop.

[RoninLB]

pre Thanksgiving & Christmas grading wop cheese & turning dough for days, watching gp eat lamb brains out of the skull, gm being slow to leave the restaurant so she can grab most of the waiter's tip 'cause of her depression era mentality, gm shaking down my father and gf before they drove to the out of state race tracks for the weekend, gm throwing big name wop gamblers out of their restaurant when things got to heavy, gm ranting that the roof leaked 5yrs after I did a temp repair till roofer got there, gf getting wine loaded with the Irish priests routinely.. etc etc.

[Tim Walsh]

Luckily I still have 3 grandparents left, don't remember a whole lot about my paternal grandfather.


My Maternal Grandfather was a truck driver for Case tractors for many many years. Some of my fondest moments were of his storys from on the road. My favorite is him meeting Robert Bosch when the delivery he was making didn't go very smoothly at dock.

The other one of his memorable stories is driving from CA to WI with no clutch in the pre interstate days.

[Jims5543]

I miss my Grandfather a lot. He owned a British / Leyland repair shop in Manhatten in the 50's through 70's. It was called Adams and Mahoney. He made a fortune off of the Brit cars and retired at 53. Him and my Grandmother spent a lot of time with me instilling "culture" into me. Teaching me proper ettiquet in restruants or at dinner tables. My Grandfather taught me how to be a gentleman.

He was also a motorhead and I worshiped him for that. We were always tinkering on project carsin his garage. My grandfather hated British cars so he mostly messed with American Muscle cars. My uncle used to drag race a lot, him and grandpa made some very fast cars. He was nipping at the heals of the dragsters back in the 70's in a Vega with a big block.

He also served in the motorpool in WWII and was decorated for his service and his ability to make do with what he had on hand. He never talked about the war until he was nearing death then he started to tell me lots of stories. He was following the front line in the battle of the bulge and saw horrific destruction and death. It messed up his head.

He passed away 5 years ago just as I got into Autocrossing I would love for him to see me race. He was a great man.

I hope my son can forge a relationship like that with my parents and my wifes parents too.

[Jims5543]

On a side note my grandfather retired in the early 70's with his partner buying him out and paying royalties to use his name. My grandfather said he was weary of the Japanese cars and was afraid they would replace the Brit cars as the car to have. His partner didn't see it that way, he said Americans would never forget Pearl Harbor and never buy a Japanese car........

[gaijindabe]

My maternal grandmother was a great beauty and died at 36 under very Dickensian circumstances. (Depression era London.) That grandfather died a few years later of strong drink and a broken heart.

My paternal grandfather died when the NY Times truck (with the sliding doors) he was driving turned over – with him winding up underneath… I was a year old. My paternal grandmother was a piece of work - she smoked cigars, loved her Wild Turkey and always had a pot of coffee on the stove. RIP. They don’t make dames like that anymore….

[Oh Haha]

Wow. How timely.
I was just talking to my Mom as we were going to lunch in the 911.
Although my grandparents died before I got to know them, her Dad was an engineer at AC Spark plug in Flint. His hobby was cars and planes.
He had his own plane(just a small two seater, I think.) Although he drove a Buick to work, his hobby was VOLKSWAGONS! Aparently, he had three or four and would modify them for different purposes. I don't think he was a hotrodder, so to speak but just like to tinker with stuff. My Mom commented on how he would probably like my SC. I think he is where I get my mechanical abilities from.
I found his old office in AC when I first came to the Flin area as a manager for the vending company. Noone remembered him but one guy who still happened to be there. That gentleman has since passed away. My Moms father was a widower and raised 7 kids by himself. I really wish I could have spent time with him.

[JavaBrewer]

I never really knew my grandparents as they lived in Holland and I grew up in Santa Barbara. The only strong memory of my Grandmother was when I was 5 and Mom and I flew to Holland for a week. Right before dinner my Grandmother pulled me into the pantry and gave me a big chocolate bar
My only memory of my Grandfather was him sitting in a leather chair in a dark room smoking cigars. He didn't speak English and he had terrible skin

[Evans, Marv]

My grandparents were both born around 1890. my grandfather died in 1952 at age 62 and my grandmother died in the early '80s at about 96. My first memories of both are from the '40s. That of my grandfather was of walking down a dirt road near their farm in Illinois, where he cut off a twig from a willow tree and made a slide whistle from it for me. That of my grandmother was from one time when she was taking care of me when my parents had apparently gone somewhere. I was playing and things weren't going right, and I kept saying "***** !". My grandmother had told me not to say that because it was a bad word. Since I didn't stop, she told me the next time she heard me say it, she would wash my mouth out with soap. Sure enough, the next time I said it, she came over and jambed a green bar of Palmolive soap in my mouth and swabbed it around. Needless to say after spitting for awhile, I didn't say that word again.

[Moneyguy1]

Fresh elderberry pies........

I had only one grandmother that was around when I was growing up. She lived with us and did most of the cooking.

[Vipergrün]

Bass fishing, picking pecans, quail hunting with grandpa, then having grandma fry it all up for dinner. Also, chasing fireflys around their yard as a kid.... They have all since passed on...

[hm7608]

My grandfather would pay me to wash his car (my father taught me how to do it). Grandpa also taught me how to use a camera (guessing at f stops and shutter speeds, long before meters on the cameras). He also taught me to play chess and gin rummy. Fun guy, great memories, died when I was 12.

[cstreit]

Timely thread. My Grandpa passed away last week.

He was a mans man. Lived through the depression, fought in WWII for the Navy, raised 8 kids, never swore, never got very angry. I spent many summers with Grandma and Grandpa.

He was with me when I caught my first fish, helped me with my first pinewood derby car, and taught me what a real man was.

RIP Grandpa!