Miss you.

Grampa was born on 7-17-1917.  That's a cool birthday.  Grampa had 94 of them.  Today would have been 95.  He passed away this spring. 

I joined Ancestry.com since I find history to be quite interesting, and even though I'm not going to keep my subscription, I learned some things that I didn't know.  For example, Grampa was a store clerk.  It says so on his WWII Army Enlistment Record.  His grandfather lived with them when Grampa was a 13, according to the 1930 census.  I also know how tall he was as a young man, you know, before life made him even shorter.  :-)

Speaking of draft card, Grampa served in WWII in the European Theater in the US Army.  The story I heard was that they were marching, and he saw a truck of guys drive past them.  He asked who they were, and when he got the answer "The cooks," he decided he wanted to be a cook in the army.  He once asked one of our German exchange students if they have popcorn in Germany, because when he was over there he showed popcorn to an old woman who had never seen it before.

Grampa met Grama after returning from the war.  They look so darn happy in the photo from their wedding day.  About 13 months later, Dad was born.  Four years later, they added a daughter.

They farmed, had animals, and survived & celebrated life, just like everyone else.  In the grand scheme of things, he won't be remembered by the world.  He won't end up in a history book.  He wasn't an inventor or a politician.  But he was important:  He was my Grampa, he is loved, he is missed, and he'll be remembered by his family.

Grampa & my sister