Reply #62: I have good memories of my maternal grandparents [View All]

[kimi]

They were nice people. My grandma was from DAR stock, I have the "pedigree" and all, going back to the battle at Yorktown. Our family was fighting on the winning side, 2 members of the family. My grandfather was a great person too - from an old Irish family who settled in Kentucky way back, then he worked in a prison in Pennsylvania until WWI, served in the war, then when WWII started, he was called back up and got a special dispensation to go back to flying in that war. We've been an Air Force family ever since - my ex served, I served, my son will too.

My father's family - eh, not such nice people. French Canadian - not that that's an aspersion - settled in North Dakota. His father was a traveling preacher who married a 15 year old girl and beat her mercilessly until she, in later years, had to be institutionalized. She had a nasty habit of setting fires, and the neighbors became alarmed after awhile. He died in an old folks' home - I have little memory of him. She visited us in Iran when I was little (my dad worked for the State Dept), and I remember my mom speaking of her as condoning my dad's abuse of my mom. It was just how my grandmother saw the natural way of things, as how husbands treated wives, I guess. Sad, very sad.

We all evolve from how our families develop. Interesting how this thread has shaped into something of a topic on how people deal with tragedy, travails, and whatnot. And the little quirks that folks remember. I like that. It's good to remember the small things.