Dad's father, your Poppa was born April 16, 1923 in Melcroft Pennsylvania. Poppa never missed a day of school in 12 years, including the time when the whole school was out with whooping cough. School was 1.5 miles away and children walked back then. The family had the first indoor bathroom in the Indian Creek Valley in their newly-constructed, stone house; they still get emotional when remembering the house burned down (all in 45 minutes!) in 1925 due to the coal furnace over heating. Poppa still remembers the beautiful new Lionel train he had gotten for Christmas which was destroyed in the fire. He has a funny story about Ferne (12) and him (7) taking the family Studebaker and driving off with Ferne steering and Poppa working the pedals. They couldn't stop, and their grandparents had to chase after them trying to tell them how. They finally got it stopped but couldn't get it back in the garage, so they were found out--not good news for them! Another story is about going to his first movie. He paid his money, went in, watched the cartoon and came out again--didn't realize the movie was still to come! Poppa says his parents would sometimes go off on vacations and leave the kids. He remembers being the only one who would milk the cows (the girls didn't want to ruin their hands) and wouldn't get done with chores until midnight when they were gone.

He graduated from high school in 1941, and worked at US Steel in Pittsburgh that summer. He would have worked longer, but his father told him he'd arranged a football scholarship for him at Findlay, so he was going. Put him in the car, drove eight hours, dropped him off with $150 and left without even getting out of the car. Poppa did various jobs to feed himself in school--tended bar, worked at the Y, busboy in the Phoenix hotel, and in the brewery. He says you were allowed to drink as much as you wanted in the brewery, so long as you never got drunk. Working and playing football meant he didn't have enough time to study, and his grades suffered.

After two years he went into the Navy. They sent him to Baldwin-Wallace, where he completed 18 months of school in 9. He got his commission as an Ensign in Plattsburg, New York (a "90 day wonder"). Next he was posted at Amphibious Warfare school at Fort Pierce, Florida. A strong swimmer, he trained as a frog man, but was assigned to be an LCVP landing craft boat officer. Four LCVPs or Higgins boats are carried aboard an LST (Landing Ship, Tank). An LST was the largest of the amphibious ships and boats. It was over 300 feet long, with three decks and a crew of over 100 sailors. He had to wait weeks in New Orleans for LST 1090 to be brought down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers; no hardship this! Also, after the war he returned his ship to Seattle via San Francisco to be decommissioned, but the Navy lost track of them and they spent extra weeks in both places.

He has stories of making money by selling liquor and cigarettes to Marines in the Pacific and other schemes, all of which was spent on an enormous blow-out during this lay-over in Seattle. He also has more sober stories of being the target of enemy planes, coming upon mines, being shadowed by an enemy submarine, and of seeing the devastated miles of rubble that had been a suburb of Nagasaki.

Poppa was not the best sailor: Once in command during a watch, he continued to "zag" his ship in the convoy when he should have been "zigging" it. This earned him a spirited dressing-down. Poppa never had to be in the first wave in any landing; his most dangerous experience may have been riding out a typhoon.

He finished at Baldwin-Wallace after the war with a degree in economics, then bought out the family insurance business. Poppa was 24 when he married.

In the community Poppa was well respected, active in Elks, Kiwanis and church. He was a positive person, never putting people down, and never complaining when he was in pain. Accepting of his children--Dan has a story of calling his Dad at daybreak to pick him up in a neighboring town, and Poppa didn't even ask for an explanation. (Dan had fallen asleep by the side of the road while his friend went to get gas for the car. He couldn't be seen and didn't wake up when his friend came back for him!) Poppa was also a charitable person, gave his customers more leeway when they were in trouble than maybe was good for business.

He had a heart attack at 59 while he was driving down the Three Mile Hill. We flew out to Pennsylvania when you were 10 weeks old. He wasn't expected to live, so they broke the rules and let us bring you into the intensive care unit so he could hold you. You were his first grandchild, and I think he felt especially close to you.

Some of his favorite pastimes were cards (sometimes for money), baseball, and golf. Dad would caddy for Poppa and his golfing friends at the Pleasant Valley Country Club.

After his heart attack Poppa went to the Mayo Clinic for bypass surgery. The medical team there did a great job, so he got a ten year reprieve. He recognized this gift and enjoyed it. He died of congestive heart failure at age 70 on September 8, 1993. Nana read the 23rd Psalm to him as he died. Many people came to pay their final respects at the funeral home. The minister sang "The Lord's Prayer", and Poppa's favorite hymn, "How Great Thou Art". After the funeral we scattered his ashes at his parents' and grandparents' graves, and at the favorite family gathering spot at Kooser Park. We had a picnic and sang some of his favorite songs. I think he would have liked it. It was good you could spend his last summer with him.

He's been gone seven years, but of course he's in our family's thoughts every day.