GRANDPA

GRANDPA

My maternal grandfather was a pistol. We called him Pa though his name was Harry. He was tall for our family...over six foot and quite an athlete in his younger days...and almost completely bald. I had the impression he had a terrible temper when he was younger and he still let it get away from him at times when I knew him. My mother seemed afraid of him. He may have been a heavy drinker in his younger days but I'm not sure about that.

I remember that he liked to have a beer and listen to the Reds games on the radio. He did the crossword puzzle in the paper every day. The smell of Old Spice aftershave still reminds me of him. After he retired, he would sit at his kitchen table, shave with an electric razor, sing and look at the paper all at the same time.

He dressed up as Santa Claus for me and my sisters on Christmas Eve when we were little. We never knew it was him. He lived to be about 90 but he never owned or drove an automobile. I doubt he was ever in an airplane.

When I knew him well, he was already well into his 50's and 60's. He worked as a draftsman for R.K. LeBlond machine tool company (he got my dad a job there). He was the league secretary for his company's bowling league and scorekeeper for their industrial league softball team. I went with him many times to both. He used to type all of the team and league statistics on an Underwood typewriter. He would scream and cuss when he made an error. It was not easy to make corrections in those days and you only got as many copies as carbon paper would allow.

He had an open ulcer on the calf of one leg. I guess it couldn't be cured. It would flare up on him once in a while. He kept it wrapped with an ace bandage. His younger daughter, my aunt Joyce, used to tend to it for him. Joyce was an RN.

Harry played semi-professional baseball in Cincinnati in the 1920's. He was a first baseman. I had the impression that whatever happened to his leg made him bitter and ended his baseball career.

He never went to church much but his favorite song was "Oh Lord I am not worthy". He sang it all the time. They played it at his funeral.