Does it matter if a grandparent is a success or a failure to a grandchild? It is probably more important to a child for a parent to be successful than a grandparent. Even then, we know many people whose father was not a rousing success, yet the offspring has survived and thrived despite the father. Ken is a perfect example.
My grandfather Houghton died before I was born so I never knew him. My Father spoke very well of him and always called him a gentleman, which is a compliment. My Mother said that he was a loving, gentle father and could find no fault in him. When I think of him I think success but my children and my grandchildren don't know that. I have a list of all the positions he held in the Salvation Army Corps and there were many. He was a builder and an architect and he was the treasurer in every church that he attended.
My grandfather Buckley died when I was 9. We lived in Calgary at the time and my father was in charge of Public Relations in southern Alberta. I have several memories of him. He made donuts for us at home. They were delicious. I still like cake plain donuts, made for us by Grandpa Buckley. Another memory I had was when I was with my Father, who was wearing his Salvation Army uniform, driving from beer parlor to beer parlor, trying to find his father who had not come home as promised. At his funeral, we three children were sitting right behind our parents and the other relatives. The person who spoke was praising my grandfather, but we knew better, so I looked up at my sister and we got the giggles and we could not stop. My Mother turned around to stop us, as she knew what was happening. The other folks behind us thought we were crying because our grandfather had died. But we knew that the tribute about Harry Buckley was all made up, and not of whole cloth.
Success takes a different tone after one hundred years. The most important aspect of their life is that they survived!!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment