People I wish I could have known
- Thread starter johnbryanpeters
- Start date
I wish I had known my grandparents or even their parents better.
My dads side of the family had some interesting history. My grandparents house was used as a radio and warning station during WW2. Actually, my grandfather as I've come to find out wasn't my dad's real father, so there's a whole gap in the history here.
On my mom's side, they were farmers - my uncle still owns the farm. I'm sure there is lots of history there and how they came here and got that property - as far as I can tell its been well over 100+ years. The farm house my mom grew up in didn't have indoor plumbing until the 1960's or 1970's - they had an outhouse across the yard. Imagine it being friggin' February and you gotta take a dump at 4am when its howling wind and snow outside? The luxuries we have today. They were also quite the traditional large farm family - my mom has (or had...) 7 sisters and a brother. My mom has two large framed aerial photos of the farm, one from when you could see the outhouse and a more recent one - those are the only two things I want from her, when that time comes.
Now most of these people are dead and there isn't much known. Little pictures, nothing written down etc. Though nearby the farm, there is a street named after my family.
:edit: I guess I should just try googling this every so often. I found this from the town's library, which mentions someone named "Stephen Leanard" and also a farm that lines up with where the current farm is located. Stephen is also the name of my cousin (son of my Uncle, who owns the farm now), who was named after my grandfather (Stephen). But this Stephen Leanard is obviously from before that time, so perhaps another name passed down?
My dads side of the family had some interesting history. My grandparents house was used as a radio and warning station during WW2. Actually, my grandfather as I've come to find out wasn't my dad's real father, so there's a whole gap in the history here.
On my mom's side, they were farmers - my uncle still owns the farm. I'm sure there is lots of history there and how they came here and got that property - as far as I can tell its been well over 100+ years. The farm house my mom grew up in didn't have indoor plumbing until the 1960's or 1970's - they had an outhouse across the yard. Imagine it being friggin' February and you gotta take a dump at 4am when its howling wind and snow outside? The luxuries we have today. They were also quite the traditional large farm family - my mom has (or had...) 7 sisters and a brother. My mom has two large framed aerial photos of the farm, one from when you could see the outhouse and a more recent one - those are the only two things I want from her, when that time comes.
Now most of these people are dead and there isn't much known. Little pictures, nothing written down etc. Though nearby the farm, there is a street named after my family.
:edit: I guess I should just try googling this every so often. I found this from the town's library, which mentions someone named "Stephen Leanard" and also a farm that lines up with where the current farm is located. Stephen is also the name of my cousin (son of my Uncle, who owns the farm now), who was named after my grandfather (Stephen). But this Stephen Leanard is obviously from before that time, so perhaps another name passed down?
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Bertrand Russel
Wait...known, or known better? I wish I had known my Dad better. As for simply having known...being that I dont particularly care for people as a whole, meh, no one comes to mind.
Maybe Mark Twain? George Carlin? Hunter S. Thompson?
Maybe Mark Twain? George Carlin? Hunter S. Thompson?
Same girl, same.
My dad's dad was put in an orphanage when his dad remarried and she didn't want existing kids. He was there a few years until a cousin found out and took him in until he was 16 and joined the Army after lying about his age.
After I joined the Navy, he started talking to me more about his life because we were the only 2 who served. He past away while I was at Desert Storm and I didn't get to share that with him.
Dad tried to do some family history tracing but didn't get much further than the farm in Ohio where grandpa lived in high school.
Dad's mom committed suicide when he was in middle school, I think. Mac remarried once or twice, but that was before any of us came along.
What's funny is I always thought my grandpa was poor. He drove a '72 Gran Torino, lived in a small studio apartment, wore the exact same outfit, and never had any food in the house. Turns out he just lived a simple life and never ate meals at home, he always ate out. The only food in the fridge was left overs from the restaurant.
His apartment was above his old real estate office in downtown Rancho Santa Fe. The parking lot next to his building was full of exotic and luxury cars. You could tell what car was "in" because there would be a dozen of them.
Jeffrey Lebowski.
