In what little time I have left...
Aug. 3rd, 2006 12:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
susandennisI just went over to WebMD and read about high blood pressure. It's clear my days are numbered. Holy crap. Oh well. It's been fun.
So little time so many grandparents.... Part 2
Popoo. Daddy's Daddy. He's the man of a million stories. He was born in Germany and was not a good boy. He finally ran away from home at 15, lied about his age and joined the British Merchant Marines. He worked on sailing ships for 4 years until 1914. His English was not so hot but he was able to noodle out that England was at war with Germany and the best place for his little German ass was NOT on a British boat so as soon as they pulled into a port he jumped ship.
He was almost 20 and he had no idea where he was - he was pretty sure it was the U.S. but not positive. Turned out it was Glaveston, Texas. He found work on the Frisco railroad and worked his way up the interior of Texas where he married my grandmother. A foreigner was not proper marriage material on a good day. A German?! fagettaboutit. So her family did. She was voted out.
They made a life for themselves in Texas and Missouri and then Oklahoma. He worked his way up to engineer and was the first non-college educated engineer Frisco ever had. They had my aunt Kay and then they had Daddy. During World War II, Popoo was declared an alien and Momoo was forced to give up her US citizenship. After the war, she got hers back and he became a US citizen.
As a grandfather, he was without parallel. He was more fun than a barrel of monkeys. And just as hilarious. He had a think German accent until the day he died and we grew up with German phrases. My favorite was something that sounds like 'koosh faunce'. It's what he called my sister because she was always slow and late and we were always having to wait for her. "Come my koosh faunce" he was holler. When I asked him what it meant he said 'last cow.' HA!!! Popoo called Nancy a cow!!!! How could he not be my favorite???!!!!!
When he retired from the railroad, he took up writing. Letters. He wrote everyone all the time. He wrote to Sonny and Cher about their TV show - complaining that Cher didn't have enough clothes on. He wrote to politicians. He wrote to everyone. He wrote to me.
When I was in college, my little mail cubby always had a the gift of a letter from Popoo. They were funny and fun and interesting and always written in a German accent on his little portable Royal typewriter - which I now have. The letters always had a lesson or a story from his past and a joke and news of what he and Momoo were up to. I still have a couple of them.
It was my Mom who suggested that he write his life story for his grandchildren and so he did. 300 pages. Daddy wrote a forward and had it bound as a book for me and my siblings and my cousin. I used it to look up the dates for this entry! It's a treasure.
He had a series of heart attacks and then one really good one at Thanksgiving in 1973. He held on long enough for my Dad to get to him and they spent the night together holding hands and talking and saying goodbye. Popoo died the next day. I'm guessing now that his heart problems were the direct result of high blood pressure.
So little time so many grandparents.... Part 2
Popoo. Daddy's Daddy. He's the man of a million stories. He was born in Germany and was not a good boy. He finally ran away from home at 15, lied about his age and joined the British Merchant Marines. He worked on sailing ships for 4 years until 1914. His English was not so hot but he was able to noodle out that England was at war with Germany and the best place for his little German ass was NOT on a British boat so as soon as they pulled into a port he jumped ship.
He was almost 20 and he had no idea where he was - he was pretty sure it was the U.S. but not positive. Turned out it was Glaveston, Texas. He found work on the Frisco railroad and worked his way up the interior of Texas where he married my grandmother. A foreigner was not proper marriage material on a good day. A German?! fagettaboutit. So her family did. She was voted out.
They made a life for themselves in Texas and Missouri and then Oklahoma. He worked his way up to engineer and was the first non-college educated engineer Frisco ever had. They had my aunt Kay and then they had Daddy. During World War II, Popoo was declared an alien and Momoo was forced to give up her US citizenship. After the war, she got hers back and he became a US citizen.
As a grandfather, he was without parallel. He was more fun than a barrel of monkeys. And just as hilarious. He had a think German accent until the day he died and we grew up with German phrases. My favorite was something that sounds like 'koosh faunce'. It's what he called my sister because she was always slow and late and we were always having to wait for her. "Come my koosh faunce" he was holler. When I asked him what it meant he said 'last cow.' HA!!! Popoo called Nancy a cow!!!! How could he not be my favorite???!!!!!
When he retired from the railroad, he took up writing. Letters. He wrote everyone all the time. He wrote to Sonny and Cher about their TV show - complaining that Cher didn't have enough clothes on. He wrote to politicians. He wrote to everyone. He wrote to me.
When I was in college, my little mail cubby always had a the gift of a letter from Popoo. They were funny and fun and interesting and always written in a German accent on his little portable Royal typewriter - which I now have. The letters always had a lesson or a story from his past and a joke and news of what he and Momoo were up to. I still have a couple of them.
It was my Mom who suggested that he write his life story for his grandchildren and so he did. 300 pages. Daddy wrote a forward and had it bound as a book for me and my siblings and my cousin. I used it to look up the dates for this entry! It's a treasure.
He had a series of heart attacks and then one really good one at Thanksgiving in 1973. He held on long enough for my Dad to get to him and they spent the night together holding hands and talking and saying goodbye. Popoo died the next day. I'm guessing now that his heart problems were the direct result of high blood pressure.
