I miss them so much!
Grandma (We called her Nanny) used to set my hair in sponge rollers the night before a dance revue. She never ever pulled my hair. In fact I didn’t feel a thing until having to sleep with them. Would also sing me nursery rhymes on my moms porch swing. My fav was Sing a song of Sixpence. She was older of course, but she would play kickball with my brother and I in the back yard. Once she brought her laundry in off the clothesline and didn’t realize there was a wasp in her shorts and it got her right on the behind. I heard about that for weeks! She loved watching Oprah and Guiding Light. Would somehow watch them and do her crossword puzzles at the same time.

My grandfather (Papo) called me his medicine. We were together constantly. He would let me crack walnuts in a vice and pound old nails into crappy strips of wood. Would take me fishing while he ran the medal detector around the banks. In the summer we would go to the mall because it had air conditioning and he would buy me a hot dog and a coke at McCrorys. Then he would read the paper or a magazine while I played at the arcade with a few quarters we would scrounge up. Friday nights we would watch Looney Tunes on TNT network and he would often give me corn chips and sour cream or make me a root beer float.

Neither one of them ever yelled or preached at me. Just always remember good times and a safe place.

Sometimes I can still smell my grandparents. Don’t know if that makes sense.

Share any stories here if you like!!

Nice to Know family roots…..I feel sorry for those that don’t…… probably the only good part in me……

My grandfather told me stories of his weasel trapping in the 1930’s near Shenandoah Pa. I was probably 6 years old. He said the bounty paid was 2.00 per skin. He would shoot sparrows and hang them over a no. 1 jump trap…..I would always dig through the magazines at his place for a FFG magazine.
He bought me my first traps when I was 10, we dug fossils, went fishing. Good times!

I spent summers on my grandpa Byrds farm. He milked cows starting at 3 am Finished by daylight. Took me fishing every morning that weather allowed. Came home from school one October day and my parents told me they found him dead in the corn crib. He was shoveling corn in his old Ford pickup to take to the mill for feed

My mom is a great person, but my grandparents (especially my Grandpas) were what made me into what I am today. My bio dad was a piece of crap at best. They taught me how to hunt, fish, treat other people well and to embrace a honest days work.

The smells of my grandparents house were my grandma's 2 favorite things Lest Oil soap and Estee Lauder powder. Grandpa always let us have run of the garage and his tools with the exception of the pile of "good" lumber. Straightening nails was a required skill cause you couldnt through away the bent ones. I have his work bench in my garage now, lots a memories in all the holes drilled with a brace and bit and cuts marks from usimg his hand saws. Spent every Saturday working with him at his service station starting at 13 years old, then everyday after school once I was in high school till health problems led him to close up when I was 18. What I wouldnt give to sit in with him in the office of that station again, or eat grandmas cheese cake.

Great post Ashley. My Grandfather and Grandmother were the most influential people in my life. My Grandfather has passed on but he instilled in me the love of the outdoors, the rewards of hard work, and the peace a day on the farm will give you. He has passed on but I still think about him everyday. My Grandmother is still going strong I stop and check on her everyday after work, she taught me to try and find the good in everyone and to be thankful for what you have. I’m the person I am today because of them. I don’t know where I would have been without them. Eric

My last grandparent, my mother’s mother has just days to live. There’s something special about grandparents. They live by different rules with kids. It’s comforting to see them. Always miss them when they’re gone and wish you knew more.

Ask them questions while you can!

This song was the one he always sang, it was his favorite.
I can't get 10 seconds in without tears, I miss him more everyday

Never got to know either grandfathers. I wish I had but had great memories of my grandmothers I think of them often.

Good to read these stories. I never met my dads parents. I met my mom's mom a couple of times but I was still in diapers. I met my mom's dad once when I was about 5 years old. We lived in Indiana and all the grandparents were in Texas.

Knew my Dad’s parents but not my Mom’s. Fond memories of them.

A little story, Dad’s father was pretty quiet but whistled a lot. I can still see him walking to the garden with his hands folded behind his back whistling a hymn. I really hadn’t thought about that after he passed until our oldest son started walking. He would fold his hands behind his back when he would walk, reminded me of my grandfather and every time he did it I would smile and think about those walks to the garden.

I miss my grandparents so much.

I've got super good memories of my grandparents, too. My maternal grandparents in Harborton, VA. Didn't see much of them (remember, I grew up in Idaho). I fished every day for softshell crabs, eels, and pufferfish off the Harborton dock, ate peanut cake and caught lightning bugs every night. Those were the days. Fished off Ocean City, Md. with my paternal grandfatther - he was the outdoor sports editor for Washington Post. Good memories of when I was seven or eight.

Jack

I feel very fortunate to have known 3 of my great grandparents well into my teens

My great grandmother on my mother's side was about 5' tall and not scared of a thing
Widowed and lived by herself about a mile off the road on 300+ac

Heaven help the armadillo that rooted her yard:D

My great grandad on my dad's side trapped and ran coon hounds
His wife was part Native American and looked like it, long black hair with a little gray all the way until the end

Grandparents on both sides lived close and spent a lot of time with them as well

I have fond memories of my grandparents on both sides.
All of the fishing, hunting and trapping I could imagine on my dad's side.
My grandfather was fishing buddies with Virgil Ward.
We had an endless supply of Bass Buster Lures in those days.

Mom's side hunted and fished also. They were Arkansas hillbillies 100%
When my parents split up to divorce I was in kindergarten, we went to live with them in a dirt floor cabin that had no utilities whatsoever.
That said, if there was something dead on the road coming home from somewhere that wasn't there on the way,it got picked up. We had a lot of crockpot surprise suppers. Coon,grinners, snapping turtle, squirrel, rabbit. You name it. He even skinned out a diller, so I'm betting that we are it smothered in bbq sauce or cream of mushroom soup and ate it.
He also worked at Daisy Mfg. in the good ol days. I wish I had all of the old school Daisy bb guns that we had as kids. I guess you could say that we were pro staffer's/field testers for them 50 + years ago because we put them through the paces and found all the weaknesses in them.

In the summer we went somewhere that there was plenty of water every weekend and got a bath whether we wanted one or not.Beaver Lake, Bull Shoals,War Eagle,Pomme, Stockton, somewhere along the White River.

I wouldn't change it for all the money in the world.

Honestly I wish all kids could experience it.
They would be thankful for what they have in their life.

I spent every summer with my Grandparents in north central Pa. I’d go as soon as school was out, and come home at Labor Day. My Grandfather had all kinds of jobs lined up for me….didnt realize it at the time, but he liked having young, free help. But I sure learned a lot from that guy, and he had a lot of stories. Working in logging camps, with crosscut saws and axes. Loading timber onto narrow gauge rail road in the woods. Lots of hunting stories from the 1920s and 30s. But my favorite stories were his coal mining tales. Hand loading in a 36” seam. I didn’t know it then, but I’d end up spending 37 underground myself. I wish I could have got him to write all his stories down.

You all are lucky to have known them. All mine were gone before I was born.

thanks for the memories,i goota go i got something in my eye, take care.