Reply #70: I only remember 3 of them [View All]

[Bombero1956]

My maternal grandfather died way before I was born. From my research on Ancestry.com I know his name was Jose Maria and he was born in 1899 and died in 1948.

My maternal grandmother lived to the age of 104 and had 16 children of which only 2 survive today. She smoked in bed. I know this because she lived downstairs from us and on occasion I spent the night at her house. I could see into her room in the dark and I could see the glow of the cigarette from my bed. She would make a cigarette last all day by smoking it in thirds then putting it out and lighting it later. She made huge saucepans full of coffee and made the best cornmeal and oatmeal.

My paternal grandfather worked in the sugarcane fields well into his 70's. I remember seeing him sharpening his machete in the doorway and later shaving with it. He slept in a back room by himself catching these huge rats with a trap he placed by the head of his bed. Gives me the willys just thinking about it.

My paternal grandmother was bedridden when I lived with them in 1963. I just remember her never getting out of bed at all, not even when Kennedy was assassinated.