My one and only grandpa 1806

      Grandpa out fishing, not sure what he was fishing for in those bushes.

      Grandpa was a great man. He was born in New York city and then left on the doorstep of a convent by his mother. He was sent west on what were called the orphan trains when he was a young boy. He was picked by a farm family in northern Missouri where he grew up working for them. He had a rough time growing up and I suppose that is why he appreciated his own family so much. He spent more time with me when I was a boy than my father ever did. We fished together, played cards, went to taverns, he taught me how to drive, encouraged me to read, and we spent countless hours just talking. He taught me how to play checkers, which in turn taught me how to think ahead. He meant so much to me. He had no real education that I know of, but with his constant reading, he was a smart man. I never heard him utter foul language, no matter what happened. He supported my mother and her siblings through the depression. During prohibition he delivered liquor for a bootlegger, he and his buddy Eddie. Eddie had a car with an opening in the floor so if the police started following them they could dump the liquor out before they were stopped. Many a grandpa ran liquor during the prohibition days to support their families. I overheard he and Joyce's grandfather talking one time about delivering liquor to taverns during prohibition. It was common to have one of their children in a stroller with the child sitting on bottles of whiskey that were covered with baby blankets.
      He said two of the funniest things I ever heard when he was an old man. One was at Christmas time. He said, "you kids get too many presents at Christmas. When I was a boy all I got was a couple of oranges and a hand full of nuts." I still chuckle when I think of grandpa with a hand full of nuts. He did not mean it in a naughty way, but that's the way I thought of it. The second thing was not long before his death when he had a few beers in him and he had to go urinate. He grinned at me and said, "I have to go shake hands with a friend of mine that stood up for me on my wedding night."
      Grandpa has been gone for 44 years now, but I still miss him and think about him every day. His body is gone, but he lives on in my heart.