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

warrrreagl · 07-27-2006, 04:18 AM

Paternal GF - successful Southern businessman who ran afoul of the IRS after WWII. He didn't trust banks after the Depression so he kept his money in cash hidden around in his house. A business rival ratted him out to the IRS and they raided his home, walking out with cases and cases of cash but never charging him with anything. He never got the cash back. Hmmmm. He eventually sold his clothing business to my parents and they ran it until they retired 10 years ago. He died with Alzheimer's while I was in college and reportedly left a fortune hidden away somewhere that the IRS couldn't find and no one else has been able to locate it yet either. He was a general prick that I was terrified of while growing up. He had mistresses scattered everywhere. However, he had an uncanny ability to pick up any musical instrument and play it as if he'd studied it for years (he never took music lessons of any kind). In his church, he sat in the front row so he could stand and conduct the congregation in hymn singing every Sunday. The only professional life I have ever known for myself is as a musician, conductor, and teacher, so...

Paternal GM - a sweet, sweet Yankee from Ohio that was the most gracious and kind LADY I ever met. Anyone who met her said the same thing. She always had little bottles of coca-cola in her fridge for the grandchildren and little dishes of pink wintergreen lozenges set out everywhere. How she ever put up with my grandfather is beyond comprehension, yet I always remember them as seeming to be very happy together. She died of a stroke while I was in college.

Maternal GF - a large, barrel-chested Southern farmer and Klansman. He had a severe alcohol problem, he stuttered badly, and he constantly got into fights. He always carried a pistol and a roll of Tums in his pocket and a billy club in his car. In other words, a "good old boy." He was always happy, jolly, and genuinely glad to see me when I was a kid. For awhile, he and his two brothers got out of farming and ran a successful truck-stop and cafe. I'm named directly after him. He died while I was in graduate school from burns suffered while accidentally (and stupidly) igniting gasoline.

Maternal GM - a sweet, tortured soul who was born in the wrong place at the wrong time. Her senior year of high school was 1932 and there were only three students. There wasn't enough money to hire a teacher, so their teacher taught as a trade for room and board with the three students' families. She wanted to go to nursing school and prepared her whole life to be a nurse. However, her father could only afford to send one of his children to postsecondary school and he didn't choose her. She spent the rest of her life as a good mother and grandmother who always longed for more. Her restlessness eventually led her to be committed to an institution where she received shock treatments in the 60's. She frequently heard voices. My grandfather divorced her in the late 60's. She and my mother fought and argued constantly, but all of us grandchildren got along with her perfectly fine. My mother sent her to a nursing home at one point in order to be rid of her, and the nursing home kicked her back out - she was too well to be there. She eventually died in another nursing home about 6 years ago at the age of 86.

07-27-2006, 04:18 AM	#10 (permalink)
warrrreagl pinche vato Location: backwater, Third World, land of cotton	Paternal GF - successful Southern businessman who ran afoul of the IRS after WWII. He didn't trust banks after the Depression so he kept his money in cash hidden around in his house. A business rival ratted him out to the IRS and they raided his home, walking out with cases and cases of cash but never charging him with anything. He never got the cash back. Hmmmm. He eventually sold his clothing business to my parents and they ran it until they retired 10 years ago. He died with Alzheimer's while I was in college and reportedly left a fortune hidden away somewhere that the IRS couldn't find and no one else has been able to locate it yet either. He was a general prick that I was terrified of while growing up. He had mistresses scattered everywhere. However, he had an uncanny ability to pick up any musical instrument and play it as if he'd studied it for years (he never took music lessons of any kind). In his church, he sat in the front row so he could stand and conduct the congregation in hymn singing every Sunday. The only professional life I have ever known for myself is as a musician, conductor, and teacher, so... Paternal GM - a sweet, sweet Yankee from Ohio that was the most gracious and kind LADY I ever met. Anyone who met her said the same thing. She always had little bottles of coca-cola in her fridge for the grandchildren and little dishes of pink wintergreen lozenges set out everywhere. How she ever put up with my grandfather is beyond comprehension, yet I always remember them as seeming to be very happy together. She died of a stroke while I was in college. Maternal GF - a large, barrel-chested Southern farmer and Klansman. He had a severe alcohol problem, he stuttered badly, and he constantly got into fights. He always carried a pistol and a roll of Tums in his pocket and a billy club in his car. In other words, a "good old boy." He was always happy, jolly, and genuinely glad to see me when I was a kid. For awhile, he and his two brothers got out of farming and ran a successful truck-stop and cafe. I'm named directly after him. He died while I was in graduate school from burns suffered while accidentally (and stupidly) igniting gasoline. Maternal GM - a sweet, tortured soul who was born in the wrong place at the wrong time. Her senior year of high school was 1932 and there were only three students. There wasn't enough money to hire a teacher, so their teacher taught as a trade for room and board with the three students' families. She wanted to go to nursing school and prepared her whole life to be a nurse. However, her father could only afford to send one of his children to postsecondary school and he didn't choose her. She spent the rest of her life as a good mother and grandmother who always longed for more. Her restlessness eventually led her to be committed to an institution where she received shock treatments in the 60's. She frequently heard voices. My grandfather divorced her in the late 60's. She and my mother fought and argued constantly, but all of us grandchildren got along with her perfectly fine. My mother sent her to a nursing home at one point in order to be rid of her, and the nursing home kicked her back out - she was too well to be there. She eventually died in another nursing home about 6 years ago at the age of 86. __________________ Living is easy with eyes closed.