grandpa on my mother's side

11 years ago

last modified: 11 years ago

It shows from all the old pictures I have seen, that my grandpa (Opa) and my grandma (Omi) were deeply in love. They had 7 kids, but only 4 survived. All are still living. My mother is the oldest, and uncle Seppel is next. Both still live in Germany. The next two, uncle Klaus, and aunt Elke live in Australia. Klaus went there, right after the war when Germany was pretty well destroyed in our area. He wrote such great post cards to his sister, that her and her new husband went there too.

But, back to Opa.

He owned a winery, and had property at the (back then) edge of town, where the Bienenhaus (bee keepers hut) and the chicken coop were located. He walked there every morning to let the chickens out, and evening to lock them up.

Opa lost a thumb, when a wine barrel dropped on it. Story has it, he wrapped it up with a rag, and continued his work till he was done, and by then all they could do was amputate.

He caught his best customer with Omi, and tossed the guy naked out the window (don't worry, it was ground floor). Then after the divorce he re-married, and had three sons with "mama" which is what we called his second wife. My mothers half brothers were not that much older than me, the youngest only one year older. We heard her be called mama, and we (5 kids total) called her the same.

Opa wasn't the best advice giver, as he would tell my mother to go back to her husband and kids, when she ran there after my dad beat her up.

He wasn't the gentlest person at all. I know, my "uncles" would be beaten with a belt quite often. (we never formally called them uncles, they were to close to our age, and later, when the oldest wanted to be called uncle, I offered to do so, when the past birthday and Christmas presents would be delivered)

If we kids played in the courtyard during his nap time, we had to keep quiet, or he would bellow out the window QUIET! A second warning was a shoe flying out. At this point we scrambled out of the area.

Grandpa was still alive, when I left Germany in 1972, but I never saw him again.

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marilyn_c

11 years ago

I've it enjoyed reading the memories of your grandparents. I wasn't close to mine. My mother's mother lived in NC and I only saw her once, when I was about 4. My father's parents lived next door but it was known in the family that no one was any meaner than Grandma Stout.....and that was true. One day I went next door to play with my cousins, who were visiting her. When lunch time came, she made me go home, and when I came back, she was burning my stick horse in the trash barrel. When I tried to pull it out of the fire, she tried to hit me with her cane. I remember my cousin saying, "Get her, granny!" Well, the old lady died....and when she did, my mother used some of the estate money to buy my first horse for me. My cousin who loved horses, grew up, had several husbands, five kids, became an alcoholic to the point she couldn't function....and I went on to raise some of the best quarter horses in the area. Get her, granny! 8-))

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Comments (6)

User
11 years ago
marilyn, about what years were you raising horses? What pedigree line?
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Alisande
11 years ago
Yes, living well is the best revenge, Marilyn!

I, too, am loving these grandparent stories. Will you do a separate thread on paternal grandfathers? If not, I'll be back!

I don't know a lot about my mother's father, but all of it is good. His wife, my grandmother, died suddenly of a heart attack in her forties. They had three daughters, my mom the oldest, and the youngest was only 15 at the time.

By the time I was born, he had remarried. She was very different from his first wife, a little overwhelming and a difficult stepmother. He was a quiet man, and she was . . . not. We lived in NYC, and they in NJ, where he owned a German deli. We didn't see a lot of them when I was growing up. They had one child together shortly after I was born, so like Moni I had a younger aunt I never called "Aunt."

I'm told he was devastated after my mother died (when I was 9), and didn't get out and do much after that.

A male childhood friend of my mom's told me the story of how my grandfather drove my 14-year-old mother from NJ to PA to visit him one summer when he was working as a camp counselor. He said he was such a nice man. I believe it; I never heard differently. I remember dancing silently with him at my cousin's wedding when I was about 20 and thinking it was a shame we never really got to know one another.

Here he is with his youngest daughter, Claire.
susanjf_gw
11 years ago
my father's parents had passed before I was born..(my dad was 46 when I was born) my half sister (15 years younger than my mom) even got to live with them while my dad traveled for work...

my mother's parents I did meet and spent a couple of summers with them after they moved to my uncle's property in mo, and ran his dairy queen...gma frances was very different from my mother who harbored a lot of resentment from the days of plenty as a farm child to those of loss. Gma never complained and teated all her grands with the same gentle love...gpa was gone often (worked for railway) but while my mother grew to dislike him, he was always good to me...

i do have several maternal cousins i'm still in contact with, but sadly, only have sporadic contact with half sister's dds and their families...
marilyn_c
11 years ago
I'mhappyandIknowit, I raised horses in the late '60's and through the '70's. I had foundation quarter horses. My stallion was by Fourble Joe by King and I had two granddaughters of Joe Bailey, two granddaughters of Hollywood Gold, a Skipper W granddaughter, a granddaughter of Ed Echols, a granddaughter of Sugar Bars, and two mares by Scroggins' Little Star....and I would have to look them up to remember his line. My daughter was born in 1980 and after that I only bought a couple of horses as a favor to a friend...one was Go Jody Bar by Jody Bars and her son that was by a grandson of Native Dancer. I bred her to a grandson of Three Bars...Rivera Bar 9. Put them down in the past year....and have two QHs now....Badgers
Nightlight and Peppy Doc Mariah...both Mr. San Peppy bred. http://www.allbreedpedigree.com/badgers+nightlight

I also had a horse out of Sissy Pine by Poco Pine.
OklaMoni
Original Author
11 years ago
yes, the other grandpa will come up too. Prolly not till Friday though.

grandpa on my mother's side

marilyn_c

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grandpa on my mother's side

marilyn_c

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