Tribute
Grandpa was always painfully honest, so to honor that trait I’ll begin by admitting I didn’t know him as well as I should have. When an hour might have meant the world, I found more fleeting things to occupy my time. So all that I am left with is a collection of hazy childhood memories: late night Rook games where he would "shoot the moon" with impunity, the moment when I watched in awe as he unveiled his latest invention, or the image of his slim frame walking between the tallest tomato plants I’d ever seen.
So for me to say much about his life would be disingenuous and do him a terrible injustice. What I can do, however, is attempt to supply some historical context, so that we might have a better understanding of the world in which he lived.
He was born on Christmas Day 1912, less than a year after the sinking of the Titanic. William Taft was president. The average life expectancy for males in this country back then was less than fifty- my grandfather managed to best that statistic by four decades. As he learned to walk, World War One raged in Europe. There is a good chance he talked with aging Civil War veterans while attending school. Then, just as he reached adulthood, America was plunged into the Great Depression and World War Two. He lived almost sixty years after the last shots were fired. His life encompassed seventeen presidents; he outlived all but five of them. He predated the television, radio tuners, and traffic signals.
Truth be told, Grandpa would be bored to tears by this history lesson. He’d rather be playing a game of pool, telling a story, or making a birdhouse out of a gourd. One of his most admirable qualities is that he loved life. He turned everyday life into an adventure. He found a girl, fell in love, and got married. Their marriage lasted sixty-nine years. My mind boggles at the number.
The success of his philosophy is evident today in the people who have gathered to remember him. We are all the proof he needed. I think that he would want us to honor his life by living ours to the fullest- in this way, we carry on his tradition.
So for me to say much about his life would be disingenuous and do him a terrible injustice. What I can do, however, is attempt to supply some historical context, so that we might have a better understanding of the world in which he lived.
He was born on Christmas Day 1912, less than a year after the sinking of the Titanic. William Taft was president. The average life expectancy for males in this country back then was less than fifty- my grandfather managed to best that statistic by four decades. As he learned to walk, World War One raged in Europe. There is a good chance he talked with aging Civil War veterans while attending school. Then, just as he reached adulthood, America was plunged into the Great Depression and World War Two. He lived almost sixty years after the last shots were fired. His life encompassed seventeen presidents; he outlived all but five of them. He predated the television, radio tuners, and traffic signals.
Truth be told, Grandpa would be bored to tears by this history lesson. He’d rather be playing a game of pool, telling a story, or making a birdhouse out of a gourd. One of his most admirable qualities is that he loved life. He turned everyday life into an adventure. He found a girl, fell in love, and got married. Their marriage lasted sixty-nine years. My mind boggles at the number.
The success of his philosophy is evident today in the people who have gathered to remember him. We are all the proof he needed. I think that he would want us to honor his life by living ours to the fullest- in this way, we carry on his tradition.
posted by Yorick at 5:50 AM
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