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A great man.
His name was Thomas, at least the name we knew. He changed his name when he came to New York from Michigan. He wasn't alone though. He came with siblings, or siblings followed him.
He got married at 19 in the 50's, it was probably a shotgun wedding. His wife was just barely 18 when they had their first child, a son.
He was a police officer in a little tiny town and people loved him.
3 more girls followed the son, but the man's marriage wasn't the greatest.
See, everybody loved him. Some a little too much.
He had another wife, and with her another daughter.
Again, everybody loved him, some of them more than others.
His son asked out a girl, and was turned down he found out because well, everyone loved his dad.
They say the third time's a charm. And for him it was. He found a wife who loved him more than anyone else. And they had a very wonderful life. With a farm and many many horses.
They turned the haylofts above the barn into a very swanky apartment which they remodeled all themselves. He trained horses well into his 60's.
While in his 60's, one of these horses threw him and stepped on his face. He was flown to the hospital in a helicopter. And complained about pain in areas they had previously ruled out from being injured. They did a full body scan and found that he had an aneurysm forming near his heart. This horse saved his life.
Not home for 2 full days yet, and against doctor's orders, he was shooting turkeys from his living room window.
Him and his wife moved to Florida, and started up a restaurant and had lots of fun. They bought an RV and took their sweet time coming back to New York. They lived on one of his daughters properties in their RV for a time. Then got another farm like property with more horses, and a fat inbred beagle that just wanted to play fetch all the time.
Soon though, the man's health started failing, and couldn't manage to keep up with such a big property. They sold their place and horses, and moved into the suburbs.
The man saw his kids grow up and have families, and saw his grandchildren grow up and many of them having their own families.
Living in the suburbs though, did take a toll on this great man. He hated that he was becoming more dependent on people and things. But it never stopped him. He continued to smoke, though he was on oxygen, he refused to believe he needed a hearing aid, the rest of us sissies needed to learn to speak up. More than once, he got sick and people were prepared that this was the end.
But he was a great man and pulled through as he always did.
A week ago, he and his wife went down to Florida to see some of his wife's family. They were scheduled to stay for 3 weeks, but decided to come back early. But the weather made them hold off until Friday.
Until last night, when the man woke up with breathing problems that were worse than usual and passed away.
This man was a great man, he lived his life to the fullest and loved it.
This man was my grandpa, with his squashed potato nose and Johnny cash level of bad-assry.
His name was Thomas, at least the name we knew. He changed his name when he came to New York from Michigan. He wasn't alone though. He came with siblings, or siblings followed him.
He got married at 19 in the 50's, it was probably a shotgun wedding. His wife was just barely 18 when they had their first child, a son.
He was a police officer in a little tiny town and people loved him.
3 more girls followed the son, but the man's marriage wasn't the greatest.
See, everybody loved him. Some a little too much.
He had another wife, and with her another daughter.
Again, everybody loved him, some of them more than others.
His son asked out a girl, and was turned down he found out because well, everyone loved his dad.
They say the third time's a charm. And for him it was. He found a wife who loved him more than anyone else. And they had a very wonderful life. With a farm and many many horses.
They turned the haylofts above the barn into a very swanky apartment which they remodeled all themselves. He trained horses well into his 60's.
While in his 60's, one of these horses threw him and stepped on his face. He was flown to the hospital in a helicopter. And complained about pain in areas they had previously ruled out from being injured. They did a full body scan and found that he had an aneurysm forming near his heart. This horse saved his life.
Not home for 2 full days yet, and against doctor's orders, he was shooting turkeys from his living room window.
Him and his wife moved to Florida, and started up a restaurant and had lots of fun. They bought an RV and took their sweet time coming back to New York. They lived on one of his daughters properties in their RV for a time. Then got another farm like property with more horses, and a fat inbred beagle that just wanted to play fetch all the time.
Soon though, the man's health started failing, and couldn't manage to keep up with such a big property. They sold their place and horses, and moved into the suburbs.
The man saw his kids grow up and have families, and saw his grandchildren grow up and many of them having their own families.
Living in the suburbs though, did take a toll on this great man. He hated that he was becoming more dependent on people and things. But it never stopped him. He continued to smoke, though he was on oxygen, he refused to believe he needed a hearing aid, the rest of us sissies needed to learn to speak up. More than once, he got sick and people were prepared that this was the end.
But he was a great man and pulled through as he always did.
A week ago, he and his wife went down to Florida to see some of his wife's family. They were scheduled to stay for 3 weeks, but decided to come back early. But the weather made them hold off until Friday.
Until last night, when the man woke up with breathing problems that were worse than usual and passed away.
This man was a great man, he lived his life to the fullest and loved it.
This man was my grandpa, with his squashed potato nose and Johnny cash level of bad-assry.
Awesome Grandpas are priceless treasures. I was honoured to have one in my life until 7 years ago ... when he was 98 and I was 50.
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