My Grandfather

Hello Hivers and friends. Today I tell you a little bit about my mother's father. Grandpa lived a long life (1911 - 2002) and seen a lot of changes.

Early life for my grandfather was hard. He was born in Canada and later moved to the United States. He lost his father when he was only 4 years old. He ended up being the only child of his parents. Looking at several old photographs you could just tell his mother loved him dearly. I have shared her photo album previously which included several pictures of him as a young boy. If you want to check them out, click here.

The family photo above is of my grandfather's father side. He's the second kid in the bottom row. Directly above him is his Mother and Father. Off to left of his father is his Grandmother. This picture was taken in 1914 I believe. The rest of the family includes uncles,aunts, and cousins.

He was involved in many sports. He played football, basketball, golf, track and later was involved in bowling. He didn't just play he excelled at them. He lettered in all sports he played in highschool.

The first photo I believe is the best of the best represented for each sport. He is pictured in the center wearing his football uniform. He was an avid golfer and did well throughout the years playing. He really didn't hang up the clubs until his late 70's. When he lived with us (1994 -2000) he watched golf all the time on television. He would even get phone calls from some of his old golf buddies.

Basketball was kind of a leisure sport for him. I remember him telling me he was the second leading scorer for the team. Back in his day they did a lot more passing to slow the game down. There was no shot clock so a team with a good lead would just try to possess the ball for as long as they could.The pictures above are from his 1930 High School yearbook. He's the 2nd to right in the back row, next to the coach. Look at those scores, low totals because of what I explained above.

Above you will find his classmates. He is almost dead center in the photo. He was a very popular classmate. In the year book they had a description about the class. He was the first mentioned in the description when they talked about athletics. The last photo is of his high school football team (3rd from left, bottom row). He played receiver and defense end. There were descriptions of the games played and he was in almost all of them. He scored often as a receiver and even scored on defense. He even had a nickname, "Jabo."

Well he was involved in a couple of groups as well. One of them was the Pen and Ledger Club. There they performed a school play, set up a spring picnic, and provided some simple penship. He's pictured centered in the back row.

Another group he was in that seems very fitting is the, Sportsman Brotherhood. A short description about what this group did is above. He is pictured 4th to the left in second row.

After high school he attended Hartwick Academy. Not so much a college but more of a finishing school. He mentioned during the Great Depression it was really the only continuous education he could receive that was affordable. They provided room and board. They also had athletics as well. Some of the previous pictures above were the sports he participated in while attending there.

Once he graduated from there he went to work at Oneida Limited with his mother. This was a company that made silverware and other fine dining items. He was a welder. I'll show you a bit later some of the silverware he made that I have the pleasure of owning now. He did this work for 40 years retiring in 1974.

He was the bread winner of the family in his early 20's. His household at the time included his mother and his father's mother. What a great responsibility it had to be for a young man to support both of them. A great sacrifice for young man in his prime years.

Some pictures of my grandfather during the late twenties/early thirties. Its cool to see him standing near the edge of a bridge posing for a picture while holding a camera of his own. The second photo is him with his grandparents. I'm almost certain his mother took these photos.

His mother passed away in 1940. His grandmother outlived all her sons and even thier wives. She remained with him until she was placed in a women's home a few years later in 1949. She lived to be 94 (1861-1956). My mother remembers her being a sweet old lady.

My grandfather got married in 1943. They just had one child together, my mother. The first photo is of him holding my mother in 1946. The other photo was taken around 1956 with him and both my mother and grandmother. The house you see briefly on the outside and inside was bought by my grandfather in 1940. It was originally built in 1937. He would live there until 1994.

I remember going to his house when I was young kid and going up to the attic. He had quite the collection of old sports memorabilia. I seen an old leather football helmet, a jersey, an old football,and an old basketball. There was much more stuff up there but I was just drawn to those things. The stuff just had a unique look and smell to it. When he moved in with us he had his personal stuff delivered to us. The old sports memorabilia didn't make it. It's a bummer that would have been nice to see again and have as a keep sake for future generations.

Well when he got a little older he played a lot of golf and was involved in bowling leagues. I remember seeing his bowling bag when I was younger. A black bag that contained two balls, it had some weight to it. I also have memories of him enjoying a "cold beer" each day. He often said, "A beer-a-day keeps the doctor away. He followed that slogan to a tee. I never noticed him exceeding that.

After retirement, in 1974 it was only a year later he lost his wife. He would have a few girlfriends in the years to follow but he would out live all of them. It's like he was experiencing what his grand mother did. He outlived all of his relatives that were around his age. He was an awesome grandfather. Every birthday and Christmas we would receive gifts or a check.

Above are some photos from the 1980's. The first is of his step daughter's family. Grandma was married previously. Even after his wife's death he stayed in touch with her child. The rest of the photo are of his classmates at their 50th class reunion. I recognize some of them from there photos from about 50 years previously, do you?

I remember a few things in his last days. I went to visit him in the nursing home a few days before he passed away. He was not there at a mental capacity which was very saddening to me. Every other time we met he had an excited look to see me and would say, "Bobby how are you?" Only a few people refer to me as such, I truly miss hearing it from him. I ran into an older lady that talked to me for quite some time. Probably his last friendly companionship. She knew a lot about him and quite a bit about me. She told me he talked often about me. She knew what sports I did in highschool and where I traveled to while I was in the military. Holding back tears was very hard as what crossed my mind was he was very proud of me 😢

I have quite a bit of my grandfather's things. Here's a few things I have of his. First off a watch that he wore for many years. Second a Boy Scout Pin he earned, this pin is right at a hundred years old. Third is a black onyx ring. I have tried to wear, to small for my ring finger and just to loose for my pinky finger. Fourth is a tie clasp. I think he made this himself while he worked as welder for Oneida Limited. It so looks like a piece of silverware shaped into such.

The silverware collection I absolutely love. It just nice having a precious antique style collection. What sets it apart from that is it holds so much sentimental value to me because this is what he did for all those years he was employed.

The period he lived in he seen so much history. From the first cars, to both World Wars, Women's right to vote, The Great Depression,and numerous more. He was part of the war machine in the early forties as his company shut down production to put effort towards the war. It amazes me he seen such early technology to what it became at the end of his life.

Well I will end with this. My grandfather was a great man and had a good influence on me. He was a quiet and very humble person. It was nothing for him to do a lot of things on his own. These are traits that I tend to exhibit as well. I see a lot of similarities in his life that I have experienced also. My height is contributed to him as we were both 6'2. I also show no signs balding, he had a full set of hair his whole life. I lost my father at a young age, participated in numerous sports, and also have only one child.

Thank you for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed some of my grandfather's life and the older photography. Time goes by and we will never forget our past loved ones ❤️ Take care, be safe, and have a great weekend.