re: Let's Talk About Grandfathers

I'm a grandfather of a wonderful 1 1/2 year old grandson, I'm hoping to be a memory builder with him and the son-in-law. The memories of my gramps is cloudy, which makes me sad when I think of him....

Never knew my grandfathers. My maternal grandfather died when my mother was 18 and my fraternal grandfather passed away when I was an infant. He held me when I was 20 days old, but he was blind.

I hate that I never knew them.

Grandparents – I have a been lucky and unlucky – on my moms side her dad was a Czech immigrant who was orphaned as a child he didn’t really have many parenting skills. Not a bad man, worked hard but little time for family – TBH not sure what he did, what he liked etc, he worked construction and was out of town/travelled for work. He had 11 kids, god bless my grandma .... so he had time to make a family he just didn’t follow up much – much of the parenting was left to oldest brothers and sisters
My on my dads side, my grandpa died when my father was 14 but my grandma remarried and our step grand dad was a very good man. Hard worker, loved to fish and is a generous man, hes still alive but not in great health. Grew up in the depression and that clearly impacted his values. My great uncle also became a substitute father for my dad and grand dad for me. He also loved to hunt and fish and was a good influence and kept us connected to family. Grand dads are a huge influence on us when we are young, a male influence is significant on young men w/o it we see what happens in society. They are more of a buddy to a young man than a father can be and offer a wisdom that we as dads don’t have when we are raising young kids.

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r porch of my son, me, my dad, and my grandpa. 4 generations in one pic is something I'll always cherish.

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Me too. My favorite pic.

I was lucky to have Pop in my life for 36 years. At his funeral I was amazed at the number of people that came by saying they remembered him in some way. WWII vet from the greatest generation.