Grandpa's Legacy

It occurred to me last week that, had he lived, my grandfather would be celebrating his 100th birthday this month. I'm sorry he didn't make it. I can picture the party that would have been thrown, the family that would have gathered 'round, the smile he would have worn.

I'm not good with all the details of my grandfather's life – my dad is the go-to guy for that – but I can hit the highlights. Grandpa was born in 1913, the youngest of nine children. When he was five years old, his father was killed in an industrial accident. When he was twelve, he went to work in a grocery store. His family had no money. And this was before the Great Depression.

As a young man, my grandfather worked to support himself and his mother (his siblings having grown and moved on) while at the same time putting himself through college. When school was done, he embarked on a career. He got married. He continued to work hard. Very hard. He was bright and tenacious and successful. He developed products, held patents, and eventually became President of his company. He made money. He gave away money. And he invested money. He invested wisely.

I don't know how much money my grandfather made. And it's not important. What is important is how he lived. Though he probably could have afforded one, he didn't live in a large, lavish home. For nearly all of the years I knew him, he and my grandmother resided in a comfortable town-house. But Grandpa did like cars, and he traded in his old model every two years for something new. Usually a Buick. In the early 1970s, he bought some land and built a cabin in the north woods of Michigan. Forty acres of forest with a creek running through it and a pond for fishing. There were deer and ferns and blueberries and bird-feeders. The grandkids loved it. I think Grandpa loved it most when we were there.

Others might have known my grandfather as a determined student, a brilliant engineer, or a tough businessman, but I knew him as a man who liked to make people smile. At least, I know he liked to make his grandkids smile. Every year at Christmas, he would strap on a white-washcloth beard and don his Grandpa-Santa hat and dole out presents. He had a real pinball machine in his basement, and I'm guessing Gramps didn't buy it solely for himself. Occasionally, on a Saturday afternoon, he and I would go out, just the two of us. Grandpa liked to shop at K-Mart. And he'd always spring for a pack of gum or a 45 record I had my eye on.

I think of my grandfather often. Even more so now that my oldest is heading off to college, because above all the other things he valued in his life, my grandfather valued education – his own and that of his children, his grandchildren, his great-grandchildren, and the students at his alma mater. He invested in this education, emotionally and financially. And this is his legacy; not just the man he made of himself, but all the men and women he helped make of so many of the rest of us.

His expectations were high, his love was great, his gifts were generous. And I would not be where and who I am today without him.

Happy Birthday, Grandpa.