Grandpa John

Grandpa John
Jackie, Vonita and Dinah

A friend of mine from way back in the country school days sent me a letter a while back telling me that Grandpa John was her hero. She then went on to tell me that one day when she was quite young, she was left at home alone. She went outside to feed her dog and there was a skunk in the yard that was acting quite aggressively. She knew what she had to do and went to the house, climbed up on a chair, (she was too small to reach the gun without the chair) and got her dad's shotgun down. She was afraid, but determined that the skunk had to be destroyed. She got the shells and toted the gun to the yard. Just as she was getting ready to load the gun, out of nowhere came Grandpa John. It wasn't a regular thing for him to stop in at the house, but here he was, just in time. He took care of the skunk for her and from that point on, he was her hero.


My brother John lost an expensive watch while moving cattle one day. It was quite a distance that the cows were moved, miles, so after searching for hours, he knew he was going to have to tell Renee that he had lost the gift she had given him. John mentioned it to Grandpa John, and Grandpa, at that time going blind, took to the road where the cattle had been driven. Do miracles happen? Grandpa John found the watch.


I remember Grandpa having the patience of Job with Dinah and I. How many Grandfather's/Father's would have the patience and the "bravery" to allow two little girls to put make-up on his face and polish his nails?


My daughter Jessica spent quite a bit of time with Grandpa John. One day, they were in the basement reloading shells when Grandpa suggested that they "pull a trick" on her dad. Grandpa loaded several shells as blanks and stuck them in his pocket. When Bob showed up to do some target shooting, Grandpa winked at Jessica and handed him a blank shell. Bob shot, then tried to figure out why he had missed. He didn't think he was behind the target, but he just couldn't be sure because he couldn't tell for sure where it had gone. Grandpa then handed him a few good shells, then he winked at Jessica again and they went back to the blanks. Over and over Bob missed the target and was getting quite frustrated. Jessica still laughs at the confusion on her dad's face when he missed so many targets. I don't know if they ever told him what they were doing.