Jim, I'm so sorry for your loss. What a full and fruitful life, though. And I'll bet he was proud of you. So he was around you all the time growing up until 12? What a blessing. I met my paternal grandfather only once before he died.
You know, I'll bet your newspaper might like to publish a slightly more fleshed-out version of your remembrance, or maybe frame it and put on the walls of the places he involved himself in. Let everyone else know for decades to come who this man really was, and what he meant to people. It's good for men like him to be remembered. Respectfully, Adam Phillip Churvis President Productivity Enhancement > -----Original Message----- > From: Jim Davis [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Sunday, February 03, 2008 5:31 PM > To: CF-Community > Subject: So, my Grandfather died. > > Got a call last Thursday that he was in the hospital (he's been in and > out > with lung problems). We drove up (they're outside Buffalo, we're in > Scranton). By the time we got there he was doing much better - he had > been > dehydrated the fluids were doing him worlds of good. We stayed for a > couple > nights but had to leave - we had left the kids with neighbors. > > We got a call late Sunday that he had taken a turn (his kidneys had > failed) > and before we could leave again he had died. My brother and I headed > back > together for the services. > > He wasn't doing well for the past few years. His hands were so > arthritic > that he couldn't feel them, macular degeneration (or, as my grandmother > would say "immaculate congeneration") had made him effectively blind > and he > was, as he put it "deaf in one ear and couldn't hear out of the other" > (a > bout of shingles had burst his right eardrum). He had leukemia and his > left > lung had collapsed several times in the past year. > > His father and mother ran a cook-tent for various carnivals and his > father, > Carolton had some success as a singer and songwriter. When not in > school my > grandfather worked the shows doing whatever needed to be done. > > He left school in 1943 to enlist in the army and served for just under > two > years with the 256 Field Artillery Battalion. They ended up on Omaha > Beach > on June 7th where he drove a 1/4 ton truck transporting wounded from > the > front lines to field hospitals. Over the next two years his battalion > reached the outskirts of Berlin and ended up in Stuttgart. > > When he came back he married my grandmother (they recently celebrated > their > 61st anniversary) and moved into his parents' home in Tonawanda, NY > where > they built out the attic into an apartment. He worked as a machinist > and > raised two children in the same house. When my parents got married we > moved > into the same attic apartment where we lived until I was 12. > > He was very active in the community being a member of the American > Legion, > the Masons, the Star Camping Group, Last Man's Club, Tonawanda Senior > Center, the Salvation Army, Tonawanda Senior Travel Club and "The Barge > Men" > singing group. He was fixture in his later years, sitting on his porch > and > waving happily to everybody that passed. > > He was honored with several services: the American Legion, the Masons > and a > military service. The flag from that service will be donated to the > Veterans Association where it will be flown over the Tonawanda Veterans > Memorial. > > He was a strong, tall man and honestly giving and kind (not the "now > that > he's dead we'll make up good things" giving and kind). He was always > the > calm at the center of my family's many ridiculous feuds and was one of > the > very few that refused to take sides. We didn't always agree but we > never > fought. > > I'm going to miss him. > > Jim Davis > > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;160198600;22374440;w Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:253085 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
