My Grandparents

Week 7 - Grandparents

I have always felt lucky when it came to grandparents. When I was born, all 4 of my grandparents were still living; they lived close enough that I saw them regularly. We called my dad's parents Old Mama and Papa Gates; they lived a mile and a quarter from us on the same road. We called my mother's parents Grandma and Papa Reppel; they lived in Phoenix, about a 30 minutes drive from our house. Our family went to their house almost every Friday night and many holidays.

3 of my great grandparents were still living as well.  I will try to write a bit on them in a separate post.

Paternal Grandmother — Maude Gertrude Powell Gates

Maude Powell Gates circa 1965

My paternal Grandmother was named Maude Gertrude Powell. She was born in Collinsville, Illinois on April 27, 1904.  She was the fifth child of Gertrude Fix and William Constant Powell. She was quiet and introverted as a child and remained that way all her life. I never heard her raise her voice to anyone.

I am lucky to know a lot about her early life.  Her oldest sister, Blanche Powell Miller was into genealogy.  She wrote a short bio for all of her siblings, her parents and her aunts and uncles. I gathered memories from my sisters and cousins and added them to the bio.

Old Mama graduated from Collinsville High School in 1922. Soon after she left Illinois and joined her sister and brother-in-law Mabelle and Phil Schneider in Phoenix. She attended Tempe Normal School (Now Arizona State) where she received her teaching certificate in 1924.
 
Old Mama was hired as a teacher by the Kyrene School District. In the Kyrene farm community Kyrene Elementary School was the hub for many community gatherings, (4-H, Farm Bureau, etc.) While working and living in the Kyrene she met Herbert Ellis Gates. Papa was a local farmer. Their courtship was brief and on Dec. 20, 1924 they were married. The school board didn't allow married women to teach, so that was the end of Old Mama's teaching for quite awhile.

She gave birth to three sons.  My father Eli was born in 1926. He was followed shortly after by my Uncle Bill born in 1927. Their youngest child Kenneth born in 1936 had special needs.  When he was about 8 years old, my grandparent realized they were unable to continue to care for him at their home on the farm. After meeting with several specialists he was institutionalized.  Old Mama never fully recovered from this loss - it was a sadness she carried with her from then on.

My grandmother always worked; when she wasn't teaching, she raised eggs for pin money. During the depression, Old Mama and Papa got jobs at the Phoenix Country Club and thus saved the family farm. During World War II, a labor shortage allowed my grandmother to return to teaching.  She went back to Arizona State Teachers College in 1946 and 1947. She taught 4th grade at Alma School in Mesa. Our grade school must have started summer break before Mesa School District. I went to Alma School with Old Mama before there was an official Take Your Kids to Work Day. 

Old Mama was active in the community.  She served as president of the Kyrene PTA when her sons attended the school.  She was active in the Methodist Wesleyan Service Guild and the Altrusa Club.

Old Mama was a type II diabetic.  She loves sweets and didn't want to believe she was a diabetic. I know how she feels - I too am a type II diabetic. Being a diabetic isn't fun - bit it was worse then. 

It wasn't until 1959 that modern medicine recognized there were two distinct types of diabetics. There were no Glucose meters to test your blood sugar. It was well into the 1960's before home urine test strips were available. Metformin the drug of choice for many type II diabetic wasn't available. Oral medication for type II diabetes began in the 1950's; if the pills didn't work the only recourse was insulin.  Prior to 1961, insulin was delivered using glass syringes and huge needles that had to be boiled between uses. Dr. Nancy Bohannon describes the early syringes: "The needles were enormous, and they came with little pumice stones so that you could sharpen them. They often became dull and developed barbs on the end. And in order to sterilize them they had to be boiled for twenty minutes."

Old Mama didn't control her diabetes; she suffered a diabetic stroke around 1966. Following the stroke, she was never able to return to work. Her last days were spent in a Medicare nursing home. On December 27th, 1969, she passed away from diabetic complications; I was in 9th grade. She was buried in Double Butte cemetery, Tempe, Arizona.

Paternal Grandfather — Herbert Ellis Gates

Herbert Ellis Gates circa 1972

Herbert Ellis Gates, or Papa as his grandchildren called him, was born on November 14th, 1903 in Atascosa County, Texas. He was the son of Elizabeth Lizzie Collins and Eli Fount Gates. His great grandfather, William Norwood Gates, was a pioneer of Atascosa County having received a land grant for his service during the Texas Revolution. 

Around 1908 Fount (aka Grandpa Gates) took a job with the railroad.  While working in Southern Arizona, Grandpa Gates contracted Typhoid Fever. The railroad sent him to doctors in southern California. Suffering lingering effects from the typhoid, Grandpa Gates returned to Texas to the care of his brother Dr. Ellis Gates.  

In 1918, the family again packed up their belongings and moved to Kyrene, Arizona. Grandpa and Grandma Gates (Fount and Lizzie) purchased desert land in the Kyrene farm community adjacent to the high line canal.  Soon they were raising livestock and raising alfalfa to feed the animals.

Herbert attended Kyrene Elementary School where he graduated June 6th, 1919. Herbert continued his education at Tempe High School.  Herbert rode a Harley motorcycle back and forth to the school which was about 10 miles from his home. Herbert graduated from High school in 1923.

Papa purchased some land probably with the help of his parents.  The deed was recorded in Maricopa County on December 10, 1923. The land was located on the high line canal less than a mile from his folks.  This property was known as the home place when I was a kid. It is unknown who or when the decision was made, but the family decided to began a dairy farm.  The animal pens and the dairy barn was located on Papa's land.

The Home place - 48th Street and Ray Road circa 1965

Sometime in 1924 Papa met a young lady named Maude Powell.  Maude was a school teacher working at Kyrene Elementary School in her first year of teaching.  He was smitten; on Dec. 20, 1924 Papa and Old Mama were married. Grandpa and Grandma Gates had a small house built along the canal on Papa's land as a wedding present.  Soon the couple had 2 young sons helping them on the farm.

My father Eli was born in February 1926; my uncle Bill was born 18 months later in Sept. 1927. The fact that they were two healthy boys made Papa very happy - he would have help running the family farm.

When the Great Depression hit Arizona, demand for farm products plummeted. Farmers struggled to pay the mortgages on their land. The Gates family farm was in jeopardy. A family friend helped Papa and Old Mama land jobs at the Phoenix Country Club.  Papa worked as a life guard at the pool and Old Mama worked in the bakery.  They probably stayed in town. My grandparents made arrangements for their parents to care for their sons. The couple left their two sons in the care of their parents. My dad Eli stayed with the Phoenix with Maude's folks, Mom and Dad Powell; my uncle Bill stayed on the farm with Grandpa and Grandma Gates.

Papa featured in an advertisement

By 1932 things were improving and my grandparents were able to return to the family farm.  Papa and Old Mama were able to hold onto all of their land.  Grandpa Gates let two parcels of land near Elliot Road go into foreclosure.  Even with the foreclosure, Grandpa and Grandma Gates still had a sizable land holding.

In February 1936, Old Mama gave birth to her last child, another son who they named Kenneth.  By all accounts, Kenneth was a sweet baby; but soon it was apparent his development was abnormal; around 1942 Kenneth was institutionalized.

During WWII, there was a labor shortage; the schools that refused to hire married women were happy to have them.  Old Mama returned to work; Papa allowed her to keep the money she earned and to spend it how she liked. She bought a new stove, a new refrigerator, and when I was a small child, a new Buick Wildcat.

In the late 1940's the boys married and started families of their own. They helped both of their sons obtain property nearby.  My Dad's place was on 56th street and Ray road, about 3/4 mile east of the home place. Uncle Bill's place was about a 1/2 mile south of the home place. Although independently owned, both properties were worked as part of the family farm.

The first granddaughter was born in 1947. Their first grandson didn't come along until 1950. Until my dad's second married in 1974, they were blessed with 9 grandchildren - 6 girls and 3 boys. As a farmer Papa favored his grandsons; they could do no wrong.  In that respect he didn't do them any favors.

The new barn

As money improved they continued to modernize the farm as well. They build a new milk barn which at the time was quite modern.  As I child, I watched the milkmen extract the milk which went into the pasteurization system, then to the cooling system and finally into the milk truck. When I was young, there was a spigot where milk could be drawn off.  Dad would fill a jug and take it home to mom. Although it was pasteurized, it was not homogenized - the cream would float to the top.  Later on new sanitary requirements required a closed system and the spigot was removed.

The milk truck

Somewhere along the way the duties were split between Uncle Bill and Dad.  Uncle Bill ran the animals and Dad ran the equipment.  Uncle Bill was responsible for feeding the baby calves in the original barn. He was also responsible for hauling the milk - when I was young they sold the milk to the Carnation milk plant in Phoenix. In the 1960's the Arizona Dairymen organized a cooperative.  From then on they sold the milk to the United Dairyman plant in Tempe.

Daddy was responsible for maintaining the vehicles.  Around 1960, they built a new "shop" that was located about half way between the old barn and the new barn. In the shop was a refrigerator that during the summer usually held an ice cold watermelon.  Papa loved watermelon - he would pull out his pocketknife and cut the heart out and eat it.  He would leave the rest of the water melon for us grand kids. Also located near the shop was a gas pump which I learned how to use when I got my driver's license.

Papa & Old Mama 

Around 1956, my grandparent bought a new house on 56th Street, just north of Warner road.  Since I was born in 1954, it is the only house I remember them in. Although it was near a canal, the land didn't have water rights.  So the land was used for livestock. The house was very modern for the 1950's. 

It had a brick exterior with a red tile roof.  It had a roof top deck that I vaguely remember. The house had a fireplace and a book shelf near by.  My favorite picture of my grandparents was taken by the bookcase. Because there was no irrigation, they had a desert landscape. My favorite room in their house was the kitchen.  It had a built in booth that would sit Papa, Uncle Bill, Daddy and a passel of grand kids.

I'm not a morning person, and wasn't as a kid.  But if I got up early enough to go down to the ranch with Daddy, I could go to Papa's house for breakfast.  Papa was the cook.  He had a big cast iron skillet that he used to cook up a mess a bacon, sausage and eggs.  He would open a can of biscuits; dip them in the bacon grease to put them in the oven.  The eggs were cooked over easy with lots of bacon grease.  Unfortunately I hated fried eggs. It was only as an adult I realized the bacon grease was giving me indigestion.  Since Old Mama didn't like eggs either, I ate sweet rolls with her.

Papa was short - according to his 1942 Arizona drivers license, Papa was 5'5" tall, 165 pounds, brown hair and brown eyes.  I don't know if it was a mistake, but my personal recollection was his eyes were blue.  He was a jolly old soul - Everyone loved him including his granddaughters.   

Papa had pet nicknames for my sister Shirley and I.  Shirley was Papa's skunk and I was Old Mama's Stink weed. Papa loved babies.  Once time when my brother was litter Papa spotted him in the yard and took him for a ride without telling my mom.  That was a mistake.  My mother made sure he never did that again.

Papa loved vehicles.  When I was about 6 he had some funky vehicle we called a puddle jumper.  It wasn't a car, but it wasn't a traditional truck. I have no idea what it actually was. When I was about 16 he bought a 3 wheeled RTV.  It was the first RTV I had ever seen.  

Papa would buy candy by the case.  When he would see us, he would stop and give us a candy bar.  When I was young, it was usually a big hunk.  It wasn't often made of chocolate due to the Phoenix heat, but I do remember a time when he was giving us O'Henry bars. He would also give us "big nickels" (a quarter).

He loved my grandmother.  After her first diabetic stroke, I remember him giving her a foot rub.  In 1969, my sister Elaine and her new husband moved in with Papa and Old Mama to help out.  I don't remember how long they stayed there.  Old Mama died in December of 1969.

Papa and Grace

After her death Papa started spending time in Southern Arizona.  On January 13, 1971 Papa married a widow named Grace Eleanor Purnell Solm who was from the Douglas area. Grace was the mother-in-law of Old Mama's nephew Phil Schneider.  Grace was a nice lady and she loved Papa very much. The family joke was Papa had asked Grace to take a trip somewhere with him, and she refused because they weren't married. In any case, as Papa aged and his health failed he couldn't ask for a better health care advocate than Grace.  If she thought he wasn't getting good care, she moved him to a different assisted living center.  

In 1975 or 76, I was living in Glen Burnie, Maryland.  Papa and Gracie came and spent a few days with my husband Bruce and I.  Papa was on the board of the Phoenix Coop; he was his way to a coop convention at Blacksburg, Virginia.  Every time we went out, Papa would ask us to stop at the roadside produce stand and he would buy fresh produce. 

Papa's obituary

Papa was a staunch Democrat.  For many years he was the local Democratic precinct committee chairman.  When we gave up the position, my father Eli was appointed to replace him. According to his obituary he also served on the Maricopa County Planning and Zoning board.

Papa's health began failing in the late 1970's. Sometime around 1979, Grace asked Bruce and I to take her and Papa to Sun City to see the Lawrence Welk Show. It was apparent the Bruce and I that Papa was experiencing some dementia. Papa died on Oct. 12 1983 at the age of 79.  He was buried in Double Butte cemetery next to Old Mama.

Maternal Grandmother — Bertha McDowell Reppel

My maternal Grandmother was named Bertha McDowell, we called her Grandma Reppel. Her family called her Brownie or Sis. Grandma was born in Douglas County, Colorado on January 9th, 1906. She was the second child of Bertha Knowles and Frank Wilber McDowell (Grandma and Paky McDowell). 

She had 4 siblings who lived to adulthood, Wilber, Jess, Edith and Ruth. By the time the 1910 census came her family had moved to Canon City, where she lived until she was an adult.  Paky was a teamster a trade he learned from his father Vincent. According to the 1920 census he was farmer as well.

Grandma and her siblings were known for their great sense of humor and love of practical jokes.  Although she was easy going and loving, she knew how to yield a switch, which thankfully I never experienced personally.

The McDowell's believed in education. Grandma graduated from grade school in Canon City on May 27th, 1920. She graduated from Canon City High School four years later in 1924. After graduating from high school, Grandma worked for a year. 

In 1925, she took out a loan in order to attend Western State College at Gunnison where she majored in accounting. She also took some home economics classes and played violin in the school orchestra. She met a French immigrant named Robert Reppel, a hot headed baker who was working in the school cafeteria while taking classes at Western State College. Robert was also part owner of a Bakery; his business partner took off with the money left Papa to cover the debts. He not only paid off the business debts, but he paid off Grandma's loan as well.

Despite his faults the two fell in love. When Grandma returned to Canon City during summer break, she and Papa exchanged love letters (which my mother later rescued from the trash). Papa went to Canon City to meet his future in-laws, but the McDowells did not approve of the marriage because he was a foreigner. 

The couple filed for a marriage license in Fremont County, certificate 6560 was issued on July 2, 1926 to Robert L Reppel and Bertha McDowell. Bertha and Robert were married at the Justice of Peace office. Paky and Aunt Edith attended their wedding, Grandma McDowell stayed home. After the ceremony, Grandma and Papa boarded a train and headed for California. They ran out of money in Arizona so they ended up in Phoenix. 

Papa got a job working in a local bakery, but he developed an allergy to wheat.  So he started working in construction. Grandma started working as a bookkeeper. The 1928 Phoenix City directory shows she was working as a bookkeeper for Sun Drug Company at 1145 E Fillmore. The directory shows Papa and Grandma living at the same address; perhaps there was an apartment above the drug store. 

Grandma & Mom at the house of McDowell

In May 1928, they scraped up some money and bought 2 lots on McDowell Road and 34th Street.  These lots were on the outskirts of Phoenix, one of their neighbors was the Irion dairy. They lived in a 3 room house with a large screened in front porch. There was an outhouse in the back. No electricity. Water was carried in from the corner store. This was my mother's childhood home.  

Mom was born in 1928, just prior to the Depression. After several years, Grandma gave birth to my two Aunts, Edith Joy and Roberta Lee. There was a significant age gap between my mom and her sisters. 

When the Depression hit Phoenix, jobs were scarce.  Uncle Jess, Grandma's brother lived with them. He and Papa took any job they could find to keep food on the table and a roof over head.  While looking through Newspaper Archives, I found a classified ad that showed they were raising and selling Turkeys.  According to my Aunt Edie they also had sheep, chickens, a cow, fruit orchard and a garden. Although they were able to hold onto their home, they were unable to hold onto the second lot.   

Papa started working construction with a pick and shovel.  When the bosses found out he was hard working and trust worthy, they promoted him. If necessary he took jobs out of town.  Many of the jobs were working for the copper mines. During my mom's childhood years, the family lived in Tombstone, Miami and even in Mexico.  When they took the job in Mexico, Mom was in high school; she stayed behind in the house of McDowell with some renters. The family always returned to their home on McDowell Road.  

As early as 1930 Papa started working as a laborer in the Steel construction business.  Using his guts and ingenuity started his own business - actually 2 of them: Alpine Heating and Air and Reppel Steel Company.  Grandma used her accounting skills and kept the books.  

In the years after WWII Phoenix boomed and so did Papa's business.  In the 50's Papa had a brick house built for Grandma.  It's the house that I remember them living. When Aunt Edie got married, she and Tom lived in the original white house located just behind the new house. They had pecan and plum trees in the yard.  Grandma used to make plum jelly every year. 

When I was young, money was pretty tight in our house.  At the beginning of the school year, Grandma would take us shopping and buy us 3 new dresses for school.  Christmas gifts were usually practical. My sister Elaine remember going shopping with her and picking out socks for us.  But I also remember getting dolls from her as well.

When I was 5, Grandma took me to the photography studio to get pictures made.  My brother and sisters were both in school, so she had school pictures of them. 

I used to spend weekends at Grandma's house. My sister Elaine had a special connection with Aunt Bobbie and Shirley had a special connection with Aunt Edie.  So I stayed with Grandma.  Once when I was about 6 years old, she was keeping both me and my cousin Steve.  She took us to the grocery store and told us we could have anything we wanted to dinner.  We asked for watermelon and corn.  Grandma laughed and said Papa wouldn't eat either of them but she bought them for us anyway.

Grandma loved Mexican food, but Papa didn't.  So when we met Grandma for lunch she would take us to Las Palmas on McDowell about 20th street.  When Shirley was old enough to drive, we made a habit of eating there.

Around 1962 Grandma got breast cancer.  It was very fast spreading - and nothing they did stopped it.   I remember going to the hospital to visit her. Mom let me pick out a get well card for her.  I still remember that card - it had a rose on it with a raised dew drop. 
She died on February 19th, 1963.  I was in third grade.  It was the first death that I remember and the first funeral also.

In 1978 my husband Bruce and I moved to Phoenix.  We rented my Grandma's brick house from Mom and Aunt Bobbie who had inherited the house when Papa died. So I have lots of memories of the house including some mice that were living in the house with us until we bought some traps.

I still have a few pieces of Grandma with me.  I was given one of Grandma's quilts - a double wedding ring pattern.  The edges are a bit frayed, but it's always makes me remember Grandma. The other day I was going through some old post cards and a found a few that she had sent me when I was a child.

My dad loved Grandma.  He thought she was a nice, classy lady and a great cook.  I never heard anyone say anything bad about my Grandma.  I hope Dad has a chance to spend some time with Grandma now they are both in heaven.

Several years ago while preparing for a family reunion, my mom and her sisters, Bobbie & Edie got together and created a write-up on their memories of their mother.  Here is a link to the write-up.

Maternal Grandfather — Robert Leo Reppel

Robert Reppel about 1974

My maternal Grandfather was named Robert Leo Reppel. He was born in a small village named Mussig in Alsace, France on March 3rd, 1900. Papa was the youngest of 3 sons born to Melanie Breitel and Joseph Reppel.  There was quite an age difference between Papa and his older brothers.  His parents were in their 40's when he came along.  According to my mom, he always thought his mother didn't want him.

His Alsatian father Joseph worked as a baker in Paris. In 1895 Joseph petitioned the Mussig City Council for permission to repatriate to the village (then under German control). They approved the request and he settled in the village and opened a bakery. The bakery was run by the family until sometime around 2004.

  

Joseph, Melanie, Rene and Robert Reppel in front of the Bakery

Papa and his brothers learned the baking trade. In the early 1900's there was no automated equipment; the boys learned to knead and form the bread into loaves and place them into the ovens. Rene the oldest son inherited the bakery from his father. He would later pass it on to one of his sons.

The bakery could only support one family. Work in Alsace was scare so his other brother Maurice immigrated to Canada in 1911. Maurice was 23 and Papa was 11. 

Papa attended the local schools where he learned to read and write in German.  At home his family spoke Alsatian. His family was Catholic. 

Papa was 14 when the World War I broke out. In 1916, Papa then 16 years old was conscripted into Kaiser's Army.  He was sent to Mainz for machine gun training. His unit spent time in Sudan, Belgium and Yugoslavia.  During his service he supposedly spent 3 days in the brig for insubordination.

Robert (in front) served reluctantly in Kaiser's Army during WWI

After Papa was discharged he returned to Mussig to gather his belonging and say goodbye to his family. He was 19 when he immigrated to Canada.  On the trip he escorted Marie Sittler 16 year old Alsatian whose family had immigrated to Canada 3 months prior. Papa and Marie arrived in Canada in October 1919. Maurice who by then was married and had a family was living in the village of Leipzig, in Saskatchewan.

On December 24, 1920 Papa, Uncle Maurice, his wife Yvonne and their 3 children crossed the border in the United States.  They settled in Peoria, Illinois. The 1921 Peoria city directory showed Papa was working as a baker and Maurice as a bookkeeper while living in a house on Aiken Ave. In 1922 both brothers were listed as bakers living on Western Ave. In 1923 Maurice moved into a house on Greenlawn and lived there for many years; Papa moved into a place of his own on Hamilton. He probably left Peoria soon after as 1923 was the last year he was list in the Peoria city directory. An asthma problem convinced him to move West - he moved to Gunnison, Colorado in 1924.

In Gunnison, he got a job working for the bakery at Western State College and began attending classes. According to my mom, Papa did ok in chemistry, but flunked English. He got a loan and with a partner, he started his own bakery.  He was industrious, but apparently not a good judge of character - his partner took off with the money and left Papa footing the bill.  Papa worked until he was able to pay off the loan.

Around 1925, a cute brunette with an infectious laugh caught his eye and won his heart. Soon Bertha McDowell, an accounting major from Canon City, agreed to be his wife. At the end of the school year she returned to Canon city to make the necessary preparations.

On July 3rd, Papa and Grandma were married in Canon City, Colorado at the Justice of the Peace.  On September 20th, 1926 Papa became a US Citizen while a resident of Gunnison, Colorado.  His paperwork gave the following physical description: Age 22, 5'6" tall, fair complexion, grey eyes, light colored hair (note the age was incorrect).

The couple soon packed their belongings and headed to California.  When they ran out of money in Arizona, the Grandma and Papa settled in Phoenix.  Papa got work as a baker and Grandma as a bookkeeper. Papa's asthma was giving him fits, he was diagnosed with a wheat allergy and the doctor suggested he change his profession.

Papa got a pick and shovel construction job. His bosses recognized his hard work and intelligence and taught him the steel construction business. He and Grandma bought property on East McDowell Road, 2 large lots.  The moved into a house located on one of the lots.  They had enough land to raise some livestock, to plant an orchard and to plant a large vegetable garden.

Their hard earned prosperity was temporarily halted by the Great Depression.  Like hundreds of Americans, Papa was out of work and trying desperately to keep a roof above his head and food on the table. Grandma's brother Jess move in with them and the men worked any job they could find that put food on the table. For the next decade Papa continued to find work where he could. Although construction was slow until after WWII, Papa obtained his contractor license in 1934. Although Papa lost one of the two lots, he found enough work to keep the other lot and their house.

After the War construction boomed.  Papa started 2 businesses, Alpine Heating & Cooling which was located on his lot on McDowell, and Reppel Steel which was located at 3119 E. Madison Street.  Here is a link to the 1948 articles of incorporation for Alpine Heating and Cooling. Here is a link to the 1953 articles of incorporation for Reppel Steel and Supply Company. While searching Google for information on this posting, I ran across a web page that contained a large amount of information on the Reppel Steel business, it was a legal finding of a suit between Reppel Steel & Supply vs. US Tax Commissioner.

Papa's financial success couldn't prevent Grandma's illness. In 1962 Grandma was diagnosed with breast cancer.  It was fast spreading and on February 19, 1963 Grandma passed away. Papa was inconsolable - in December of 1963 he refused to celebrate Christmas in the normal family tradition. My sister Elaine still talks about how sad that first Christmas was.

Papa had talked about taking Grandma to France to see his childhood home. In 1964, Papa made his first trip back to France since he had left in 1919 without Grandma.  The following link contains my cousin Raymond's memories of Papa's visit to Mussig.

One day Papa met a lady barber who struck his fancy.  Ruby Beltz was younger than Papa. Papa and Ruby were married in Vegas on August 31, 1964.  Ruby had 3 sons from a previous marriage, Harry the oldest was already out of the house, Ron was in high school and Tim the youngest was a year older than me; he would have been starting 6th grade.

Papa and Ruby - 1964

They bought a home to make new memories in. Having no daughters of her own, Ruby loved having granddaughters. I spent many weekends at their house.  Ruby taught me to crochet and we often worked craft projects together.  In the evening, we would play cards, the family game was pinochle.  Papa and Ruby would drink iced coffee; guess they were ahead of their time.

When I was a freshman in high school, I fell for a shy boy who was a senior. It took all year to get him to notice me.  When he did, he asked me to the prom. Ruby took my sister Shirley and I shopping and bought my prom dress as a birthday present.  

Unfortunately Papa and Ruby grew apart - they were divorced on March 30th, 1976.  I missed the divorce, I was in the service and living in Maryland at the time. I'm glad I wasn't there to see it, because I loved Ruby.

Papa must not have liked being alone because he married again. On May 13, 1976 Papa married Lucille Loser in Vegas.  I never med Lucille, so I know nothing about her. They didn't have much time together because on September 5, 1976.  He was buried at Greenwood Memorial Lawn Cemetery in Phoenix.

As an adult looking back at my grandfather's life, I am very impressed.  Here was a man who immigrated to Canada with next to nothing and built a very successful business.  He came to North America not speaking any English and within a few years was attending classes at an American College.  Through his perseverance he regained use of his left hand that was badly crushed in an automobile accident.  His hot temper has given his family many fun stories to tell and share. 

Several years ago while preparing for a family reunion, my mom and her sisters, Bobbie & Edie got together and created a write-up on their memories of their dad.  Here is a link to the write-up.