Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Our Grandparents

snowy · 07-26-2006, 01:03 PM

I was close with both of my grandfathers, so I'm fortunate enough to know their stories.

My maternal grandfather fell off a slide when he was 3 and broke several major bones in his body, which crippled him for life. Nowadays things would be different; he wouldn't have spent most of his life in utter pain. But as it stood he spent most of his childhood in and out of hospitals, and didn't go on to any further education, though he wanted to learn to become an electrician. At any rate, he worked several menial jobs doing custodial work when my mother was young so that my grandmother could stay home with my mother and her two sisters. They had the best of everything, though they didn't have much. Grandpa worked really hard so they could have ski lessons, music lessons, ballet, and do everything their peers did. Eventually, Grandpa got hired on as a custodian at Boeing and with the raise in pay he bought a Craftsman house built in 1929. When I was young Grandpa retired from Boeing (which had a very good retirement plan) and spent his days working on his boat or playing all kinds of games with us. He taught me darts, ping-pong, and croquet. Grandma divorced him (she was/is crazy) after 49 years of marriage, and he spent the rest of his days living in a trailer in Reno, NV. He loved motorhoming, and had been all over the Western United States. Grandpa also loved trains, ghost towns, and books about the Civil War.

My paternal grandfather was born in Amsterdam, in the Netherlands. He grew up in Haarlem, which is a city about 15 minutes outside of Amsterdam by train, and close to the coast. His father worked on boats all of his life, but died when my grandpa was 14 of a sudden heart attack. Grandpa dropped out of school and took a job in a hotel. He worked in hotels up until the start of World War II. In fact, he was working in a hotel on the beach when the Germans started shelling the Dutch coastline. At any rate, during the war my grandfather was put into forced labor by the Germans, carted off from home and family to weld German locomotives in an area south of Berlin. He injured himself while welding and had to go to the hospital in Berlin. On the way back from Berlin on the train, he met a Swedish consul who gave him doctored papers. Using these papers, my grandpa was able to escape the Germans and go home. My grandpa blotted large chunks of his time in the forced labor camp out of his memory; my great-uncle told me that when my grandpa came home they ran into each other outside of Haarlem's train station, and my grandpa could never remember that happening--he was still so shell-shocked. Through the war my grandpa courted my grandmother--they were neighbors in Haarlem for a time, and met because my great-uncle was dating my great-aunt (my grandpa's brother dating my grandma's sister), and though the relationship between Aunt Joopie and Uncle Aat didn't work out, my grandparents were married for almost 50 years before my grandmother died of Alzheimer's. They immigrated to the United States in the early 1950s, when my father was a few years old. My dad still remembers the boat trip. Before coming to the U.S. they also lived in Curacao and Aruba in the Carribean. My grandpa worked as a steward for Royal Dutch Airlines (KLM) until he moved to the US. Then he went back to working in hotels. After several hotel jobs, he moved back to KLM--this time into sales. He was the top salesman in his region 15 years running--right up until his retirement. His specialty was Holy Land Tours.

As for my paternal grandmother, she was an Olympic class swimmer, and sadly, due to Hitler closing the Dutch universities, missed out on the opportunity to go to university and get a degree. She was brilliant. Later in life, she taught her children to swim, and taught thousands of children all over Dade County, Florida, to swim. She taught me to swim before she got sick with the Alzheimer's. It was horrible to watch a wonderfully active, intelligent woman lose her mind. But I still have all the things she gave me, and more besides. I am told I look like her--and act like her too.

07-26-2006, 01:03 PM	#5 (permalink)
snowy Kick Ass Kunoichi Location: Oregon	I was close with both of my grandfathers, so I'm fortunate enough to know their stories. My maternal grandfather fell off a slide when he was 3 and broke several major bones in his body, which crippled him for life. Nowadays things would be different; he wouldn't have spent most of his life in utter pain. But as it stood he spent most of his childhood in and out of hospitals, and didn't go on to any further education, though he wanted to learn to become an electrician. At any rate, he worked several menial jobs doing custodial work when my mother was young so that my grandmother could stay home with my mother and her two sisters. They had the best of everything, though they didn't have much. Grandpa worked really hard so they could have ski lessons, music lessons, ballet, and do everything their peers did. Eventually, Grandpa got hired on as a custodian at Boeing and with the raise in pay he bought a Craftsman house built in 1929. When I was young Grandpa retired from Boeing (which had a very good retirement plan) and spent his days working on his boat or playing all kinds of games with us. He taught me darts, ping-pong, and croquet. Grandma divorced him (she was/is crazy) after 49 years of marriage, and he spent the rest of his days living in a trailer in Reno, NV. He loved motorhoming, and had been all over the Western United States. Grandpa also loved trains, ghost towns, and books about the Civil War. My paternal grandfather was born in Amsterdam, in the Netherlands. He grew up in Haarlem, which is a city about 15 minutes outside of Amsterdam by train, and close to the coast. His father worked on boats all of his life, but died when my grandpa was 14 of a sudden heart attack. Grandpa dropped out of school and took a job in a hotel. He worked in hotels up until the start of World War II. In fact, he was working in a hotel on the beach when the Germans started shelling the Dutch coastline. At any rate, during the war my grandfather was put into forced labor by the Germans, carted off from home and family to weld German locomotives in an area south of Berlin. He injured himself while welding and had to go to the hospital in Berlin. On the way back from Berlin on the train, he met a Swedish consul who gave him doctored papers. Using these papers, my grandpa was able to escape the Germans and go home. My grandpa blotted large chunks of his time in the forced labor camp out of his memory; my great-uncle told me that when my grandpa came home they ran into each other outside of Haarlem's train station, and my grandpa could never remember that happening--he was still so shell-shocked. Through the war my grandpa courted my grandmother--they were neighbors in Haarlem for a time, and met because my great-uncle was dating my great-aunt (my grandpa's brother dating my grandma's sister), and though the relationship between Aunt Joopie and Uncle Aat didn't work out, my grandparents were married for almost 50 years before my grandmother died of Alzheimer's. They immigrated to the United States in the early 1950s, when my father was a few years old. My dad still remembers the boat trip. Before coming to the U.S. they also lived in Curacao and Aruba in the Carribean. My grandpa worked as a steward for Royal Dutch Airlines (KLM) until he moved to the US. Then he went back to working in hotels. After several hotel jobs, he moved back to KLM--this time into sales. He was the top salesman in his region 15 years running--right up until his retirement. His specialty was Holy Land Tours. As for my paternal grandmother, she was an Olympic class swimmer, and sadly, due to Hitler closing the Dutch universities, missed out on the opportunity to go to university and get a degree. She was brilliant. Later in life, she taught her children to swim, and taught thousands of children all over Dade County, Florida, to swim. She taught me to swim before she got sick with the Alzheimer's. It was horrible to watch a wonderfully active, intelligent woman lose her mind. But I still have all the things she gave me, and more besides. I am told I look like her--and act like her too. __________________ If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau