I lost my grandpa on my mother’s side on November 3, 2015. His story is such an inspiration to me. He’s one of the big reasons that I want to succeed in life. I’d like to share the summary of his life and hopefully inspire some of you as well.
My grandpa was an orphan during the Great Depression. His parents were separated. His father died of an accidental suicide by forgetting to turn off the gas before he went to sleep. His mother actually did try to commit suicide, though I forget how. My grandpa and his two sisters were separated when they were taken to their respective orphanages. My memory of his time in the orphanage is fuzzy since I haven’t heard it since I was in high school. However, I can tell you that it was absolutely horrible. One part I do remember quite clearly is one day, my grandpa and a few of his friends in the orphanage decided to run away. They decided that they could find work for food, and they did. And then they found an abandoned house in a nearby neighbourhood where they stayed for a few days, each boy returning back to the orphanage one by one. My grandfather was the last to return, and thusly the nuns believed that he was the ring leader. He was beaten so badly that he couldn't get out of bed for days.
When he was finally old enough to leave the orphanage, he got three jobs. He was a grocery store stocker, he cleaned the printing press for the newspaper, and he set up the bowling pins at the bowling alley. He made $18 a week ~ $10 for rent and $8 for food. One day, a woman who owned a delivery business approached him ~ he made a point to mention that it was unusual for a woman to own a business at this time. She offered him a job as a driver, stating that he needed his license and driving experience. He told her that he had both, and she hired him in. My grandpa rode with one of the truck drivers to learn the route and to help unload the deliveries. One day the driver was sick and couldn’t come into work, and my grandpa had to come clean. He told the lady that he neither had his license nor driving experience. She had no choice but to fire him. But my grandpa was not disheartened.
Later that evening, he took his birth certificate to the legal office (I forget exactly where), and while no one was looking he took the pen that they used and and turned the slightly curved one ( 1 ) at the end of his birth year into a zero, making himself a year older. He joined the Coast Guard the next day and joined the Aviation unit. While in the Coast Guard, he became a pilot. From what I was told, he was amazing, too. When he left the Coast Guard, he flew commercial airplanes. That’s where he met his wife; she was a Delta flight attendant. They received a Coast Guard wedding in Dade, FL in April of 1966, and the pictures that I have seen are absolutely amazing! My grandmother had to quit her job, though; flight attendants weren’t allowed to be married back then.
So far, this is all I can find of my grandparents on my mother’s side. Hopefully, I can find more someday. I had hoped to find my grandparent’s wedding picture that was featured in the newspaper, but alas, I could not.
No comments:
Post a Comment