Grandpaw: May 18, 1909 - February 23, 2012
My grandfather was a very special man, not only to me, but to all who knew him. He was affectionately nicknamed "Peanuts" by his friends in response to his friendly habit of offering peanuts (and beer) to any and all visitors, but his grand-kids know him best as "Grandpaw", his beloved signature which alluded to his love of dogs. His 11 children loved him as a disciplined and faithful father, and his grandchildren, great-grandchilren, and great-great-grandchild knew him as the "ornery" man full of love for his family, for his friends, and for God.
As Grandpaw wished, Father brought him to his final place of rest with one of Grandpaw's John Deere tractors. I imagine Grandpaw was having one heck of a laugh at this sight!
My Grandpaw, Marley, and Me at Thanksgiving this past year:
I will miss him dearly. I have spent many Christmases, Easters, Thanksgivings, birthdays, and Sunday evenings with him. I cherish the wonderful memories I have of my Grandpaw, and I am truly blessed to have had him in my life for the past 25 years. As he was the only grandparent I had the opportunity to know, he has held a truly special place in my heart. With his ornery grin, hugs and kisses, and his millions of stories of his long life, each visit with him is now a very fond memory. He was an incredible man, someone to aspire to be like. I am proud to call him my Grandpaw. May he enjoy eternal happiness, with his wife, family, friends, and dogs by his side.
During his 102 years on this Earth, he sure has been through so much of history:
May 18, 1909: His birthday, which he shared with the famous English tennis player, Fred Perry.
1909: In the year he was born, Dr. Kocher won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work in the physiology, pathology, and surgery of the thyroid gland. If ever in a surgery theater, you'll certainly hear the word "kocher" several times over, when the surgeon asks his/her tech to hand him the instrument named in his honor. Only 14% of homes had a bathtub, 8% had a telephone. There were 8000 cars and 10 miles of paved roads.The average wage was 22cents per hour (weekly earnings averaged $12.98 for 59 hours of work), a gallon of gas cost 15.5cents per gallon (and not taxed), and a dentist could expect to earn around $2500 a year. 95% of all births took place at home, and the average life expectancy for Americans in 1909 was 46-50 years. The top five causes of death were:
- Pneumonia/Influenza
- Tuberculosis
- Diarrhea
- Heart Disease
- Stroke
1914-1918: At the age of 4 until the age of 9, The Great War took place in Europe.
1920s: He read about Babe Ruth playing baseball, prohibition of alcohol was in full effect, George Gershwin wrote "Rhapsody in Blue", and A.A.Milne published "Winnie-the-Pooh". In 1927, Lindbergh flew solo across the Atlantic Ocean, from New York to Paris, and the Ford Model T brought automobiles to the middle class of America. In 1928, Alexander Flemming discovered the world's first antibiotic, Penicillin.
1930s: In his 20s, he lived through the Dust Bowl, the Great Depression, the Hindenburg Explosion, the disappearance of Amelia Earhart, and the first international commercial airline flights; the invention of scotch tape, the phonograph, and FM radio.
October 9, 1935: He married my Grandmother.
1940s: In his 30s, he lived through the deadliest war in human history - World War II. Since he was a farmer and a father, he was exempt from the military draft. He lived through the technological burst that happened during the time of the second world war, which included the invention of computers, radar, jet aircraft, the Jeep, commercial television, Velcro, the microwave, Tupperware, the Slinky and the Frisbee. He danced to swing music and to Frank Sinatra.
1950s: In his 40s, he and his wife had their eleventh and final child. During this decade, he lived through the Cold War, the Russian satellite called Sputnik, and the fear of communism. Brigitte Bardot and Sophia Loren were the film stars, and Elivs Presley ushered in a new genre of music in Rock and Roll.
1960s: In his 50s, he watched famous figures such as John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., Bob Dylan, and The Beatles on his television, and saw the film The Sound of Music in the theater...the Vietnam War, the Bay of Pigs, the moon landing, JFK's and MLK's assassinations, and Gaddafi overthrew the Libyan monarchy. In 1967, the world's first heart transplant took place in South Africa.
1970s: In his 60s, he celebrated his youngest daughter's marriage to my father and mourned the loss of his beloved wife.The Cold War continued on, the Vietnam war ended after much protest. Watergate, Margaret Thatcher, the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, the 1970s recession, oil and energy crises, VCRs, video games. The first MRI image was produced, monoclonal antibodies were discovered, the first complete DNA genome was mapped of Bacteriophage 174, and Smallpox was eradicated.
1980s: In his 70s, he lived through the Lockerbie disaster, Tiananman square protests, the beginning of the AIDS pandemic, the eruption of Mount Saint Helens, John Lennon's assassination, the Challenger Explosion, Chernobyle, Atari and Nintendo, and the Drought of '88. *Also, the birth of his second-to-last grandchild (me!).
1990s: In his 80s, he lived through the dissolution of USSR, the Gulf War, the Oklahoma City Bombing, the Midwest-US heat wave of 1995, Dolly the sheep was cloned in the UK, genetically engineered crops first appeared, and the Columbine High School disaster.
2000s: In his 90s, he lived through the September 11, 2011 attacks on the world trade center and the War on Terrorism, H1N1/Swine Flu, the human genome project was completed, the world's first self-contained artificial heart was implanted, a vaccine was developed to help prevent cervical cancer, economic recession, and the fall of Saddam Hussein.
2010s: In his centurian years, he witness the fall of Bin Laden and Gaddafi, the large oil spill off of the Gulf of Mexico, and the devastating Haitian earthquake.
2012: The average annual wage of Americans is $41,673, the average price of a gallon of gas is $3.74. The average life expectancy is 78.1 years, and the top 5 causes of death are:
- Heart Disease
- Cancer
- Chronic Lower Respiratory Diseases
- Cerebrovascular Diseases
- Accidents (unintentional injuries)
References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1900%E2%80%931909; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1920s; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1930s; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1940s; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1950s; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1960s; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1970s; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980s; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1990s; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000s_(decade); http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010s;
http://www.google.com/publicdata/explore?ds=d5bncppjof8f9_&met_y=sp_dyn_le00_in&idim=country:USA&dl=en&hl=en&q=average+life+expectancy+america
http://www.ssa.gov/oact/COLA/AWI.html
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr59/nvsr59_04.pdf
Whitley, Peggy. "1900-1909." American Cultural History. Lone Star College-Kingwood
Library, 1999. Web. 7 Feb. 2011.
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