Several weeks ago I was speaking to my Aunt Veda about Grandpa Bear, family history stuff and my recent visit to Hartville, Missouri. Part of our discussion dealt with how children perceive their parents. As a child there were a lot of things she didn't know about her dad, Grandpa Bear, until years later. The reason being, as children we are not always privy to adult conversation. We don't know our parents as their friends see them. In the same way my memories and impressions of Grandpa Bear are seen through the eyes of a child who was busy playing with cousins, brothers, etc. and not that interested in being around adults. I might add that Aunt Veda's article from my previous blog was a gold mine of information about Grandpa Bear. That being said, here are some of my memories and impressions of Grandpa Bear.
The main thing that stands out about Grandpa was that he was a pretty quiet man. I don't think I ever heard him yell, shout or raise his voice. He would enter a room with a slow relaxed walk. Sometimes it was accompanied by a slight smile that came mainly by raising his eyebrows, Groucho Marx style. He liked to watch sports on TV, smoke cigars, go fishing and take home movies. I remember Grandpa getting out his projector and screen on several occassions to show his home movies. Set up in the dining room he would run the 8mm projector forward and then, unknown to us, run the movie in reverse. It's easy to go down a slide but HOW did we go up the slide? It was a mystery to me and always great fun to watch.
The pictures show my cousin Mike and I on the swing set/slide and also show us as toddlers with Grandpa. Being the same age and living in Springfield we spent a lot of time together. When our Moms were working we would stay with Grandma Bear. When Mom took me there in the mornings I would cry when she left. Grandma Bear would send me to her closet to cry so the neighbors wouldn't think she was beating me. It wasn't long before I learned to come in to Grandma's house, run to the closet and then start crying. In the afternoon when Grandpa came home from work we would be watching the Mickey Mouse Club. Grandpa would sing along at the end and say "Mickey Rat". If we were at Grandparents on saturday afternoon you could find Grandpa watching "The Game of the Week" hosted by Dizzy Dean and Pee Wee Reese.
Eventually Grandpa & Grandma saved and bought some camping equipment and a boat, motor and trailer. Trips to Table Rock Lake on weekends became more frequent. When our family lived in Illinois my brother Gregg and I came to Missouri and spent some time with both sets of Grandparents. While with Grandpa and Grandma we went to Table Rock Lake with them and some of their friends, the Luttrells and the Boatwrights. It was on this trip Gregg called Grandpa "Fritz-to". We swam, fished, slept, usual camping stuff, nothing real outstanding but it was fun to be with them for several days like that.
Grandpa and Grandma did visit us in Illinois and I can remember going to a K-mart type store that had a small carnival. (few rides, an elephant, etc) I said, "Come on Grandpa, lets go see the circus". I remember him quietly saying there were no real circuses left. Years later when I read Aunt Veda's article it struck me why he had said that, since he had been in a circus as a young man.
In the summer of 1964 our family moved from Illinois back to Missouri. Before we moved into our Lebanon house we stayed a few weeks in Springfield or Strafford with grandparents. We had moved away from Springfield when I was five and had only vacationed back in Missouri on occassions. Gregg, Gary, Scott and Mark were all born while we lived away from Springfield. In fact Mark was born in June of 1964. We had only lived in Lebanon for about 2 months when Grandpa died at age 71 in October. Except for Gregg coming with me for the summer trip my other brothers really didn't get to be around Grandpa very much. Again, I don't know that much about Grandpa Bear except memories and what I've read and heard from Grandma, Mom,Aunts and cousins. As a young man Grandpa was active playing in and directing town bands in the places his family lived. That's probably why Grandma Bear was so encouraging to me in my music studies.
I guess Grandpa Bear must have made some kind of impression on me. My Mom wrote in a letter from Sept. 1963 to Grandpa and Grandma...
" You'll think I'm making this up but I'm not- Jimbo ask me how old I'd like to be - and I told him - then ask him the same question in return - he said 50 or 60. I ask him why - He said so he could be a grandpa and be nice to his grandchildren - so I say he was very pleased to have grandparents."
-30-
No comments:
Post a Comment