What do you have that reminds you of your grandfather?

My grand father came from the WW2 generation and was the hardest working man you have ever met.
After he got out of the army from being injured after Normandy he came back and started a machine shop making parts for both bell helicopter and Voit or Lockheed.(whatever it was at that time)

My grand mother turned parts out and built plans for the factory during the war

He passed away 21 years ago next week and I was luck enough to spend the entire week with him on spring break at lake Whitney the week prior to his passing

Out of all the things I have of theirs including his sacred cast iron fish fry pot and his pre 64 270 this one item probably means more to m than all of it

It's a simple oil can he had in his shop for decades that he used when turning metal. I remember this thing from when I could first remember being on his lathe and mills in his shop both in hurst and in Whitney

Nothing fancy but every time I see it I think of him and everything he gave us and allowed me to become who I am today

I have my great-grandfather's wedding ring. Sometime at a G2G I'll tell the story of how he got it.

1934 Beretta and an 1895ish Belgium revolver. The revolver is in a shadow box. The Beretta still shoots. Pretty cool.

My grandfather ran a card game for years. He kept the Beretta with him after a guy got stabbed. Not sure about the revolver.

An old bacon press. Love that thing.

Montgomery Ward 12 guage - double barrel 32 inches - hammer-less with two triggers.

I have his Model 62 Winchester pump 22. I still shoot it on when I need his company.

His good looks

I have a Remington 7400 in 30-06, his 12 gauge from monkey wards, his ring from lone star gas which you can fit a quarter through and am working on restoring his 92 F150 that I got back from a cousin who trashed the truck. He got it in 2007 with 27k on the odometer

False teeth, not his but mine. I remember when I was a kid watching him take his out and putting them in. I also have an old Case trapper pocket knife that he always carried, I have carried a trapper now for 48 years.

1907 Remington semi-auto rifle in .30 caliber, built on a Browning patent. Sweet shooting old gun but ammo is very hard to find.

Grand dad died the year before I was born, But I have this lamp from my Grand mother that sits on a desk in my living room.

Two toes that are grown together (common occurrence among his family member)...and a sprinkler that is about 50 years old...still works to this day. I also have his smart*** sense of humor. I miss that man.

Pretty cool rifle I bet. Model 8. .30 Remington.

I found you a full box for $135

http://www.gunbroker.com/item/627911608

Mossberg 12 gauge with short barrel. The gun was always in his truck. The stock was snapped in half in the wreck he died in.

2 bags of wooded decoys that he, my father and I as a kid used to hunt over. Have them sitting around the house to bring back good memories.

A 12 gauge engraved with a beautiful duck scene that has both the Winchester and Remington trademarks made during WW II. If I remember the story correctly, Winchester was making guns for our troops, so Remington took over all of their domestic recreational production but left the Winchester trademarks on them and added their own.

A very nice multimeter and his ham radio call sign letters that sit on top of my station.

And one sweet California Raisins cross stitch sweater.

His foot locker from WWII. A few of his old lighters. My dad has his Purple Heart and letters he wrote during the war.

A union pin and a hand saw from one grandfather; several wildlife pottery pieces made and painted by my other grandfather after he retired.

Funny you say that. My other grandfather carved decoys as well as many others birds that my parents have all around their house Defiantly faimily heirlooms as well

Tools, lots of campaign stuff when he was running for sheriff.

Yep that's the originals CMan. Remington and Winchester both made rounds back in the 70's and 80's too. They still around but you have to look pretty hard to find them. I have about 12 boxes left from that era that I gave about $20 for, not sure how much they're going for now......Probably at least double that now.

Sales award from Johnson and Johnson and my first playboy mag.

I live in his house now.
My hero was my grandfather.

The list is too long ( I live in his house) but I'd say the most memorable is a straight razor that his grandfather took off a dead Yankee soldier .

Their names.

memory loss & gas

A crosscut saw my maternal gpa showed me how to use when I was a little guy. Gma wouldn't let me keep the blasting caps he brought back from demolition in ww2 that I found when I was 7 or 8.
A Grey Stetson, (1/2 size too small), pocket watch, and lack of tolerance for thieves and liars from my paternal gpa.

I have his old pocket knife. he told me a man always has a knife.

I also have his bulova watch he bought when he got while he was in the army during ww2.
he put the watch on a ceramic weiner dog with it's tail up every night. got that too

bronze star and a purple heart

Both of mine died of emphysema before I was 8, So I got a bad attitude about smokers.

I have an old pocket knife of his, an old Henry, like a mini case trapper.
I have one of his Purple Heart license plates
One of his old gardening shovels, it hangs on the wall behind my desk
And I have his old 30-30. We are still searching for the Mauser that h brought back from WWII. That one is like new, and only dropped once.

I have my Granddads 1907 Springfield Baby rolling-block .22 cal rifle. It was made for young boys to shoot and is only 33 inches long from end of stock to end of barrel. The firing pin is messed up and the last time it was fired (by my uncle over 65 years ago) if flashed into his eye. I had a shadow box built for it to display. I also have his WW1 foot locker.

Remington 742 woodsmaster from one and pocket knife, tackle box & meat grinder from the other one.

Got his old 22 rifle.

Gave his name to my son, think about him every time I say my son's name and it makes me smile.

My maternal GF raised me.

Things I have that remind me of him:

Belgium made hump-back Browning 16ga., his squirrel gun.

His Savage 99E in .308, saw him shoot his 1st deer with it (back in the day not many deer in East Texas).

A bunch of his old tools but I have an old Schfield hoe that I've watched him work with for many hours on end in his gardens.

His sarcasm and dry humor.

Carpenter tools from the early 1900's. He was a master carpenter. No power tools. Did everything by hand. Several of the wood planes still have shavings in them from his last job and a note pad where he was calculating out window openings. Never met him. I know he use to ride the rails from Taylor to job sites. Wish I could have met him I understand he was one of the toughest men you would ever want to meet. (Explains my Dad)

Never fired 1100 .410. Got it last year, dad told me Pawpa had it for a while and planned on giving it to me when I was 5 or so but never got the chance.

I have his chair and a few pictures, but mostly I remember him by stories. My grandfather was the generation before WWII, and the stories that I grew up hearing about him and the rest of my family are absolutely incredible.




We're just ordinary folks.. farmers and sharecroppers. Extremely poor. But they're good people.

Once my granddad "made it" he went out and bought a new Rolex. He ended up buying a couple more over the years but he gave me his first one. He was a little man, so it looks like a women's watch on me, I can't even clasp the thing, so it sits in a safe.

His pocket watch, his oil derrick cuff links, his shotgun, his tool kit, his lunch box, his hardhat and a spent WWI artillery shell engraved with the word "Verdun" (France) and a date which escapes me at the moment.

My first tackle box...gave it to my mom the day I was born...small cardboard box with some hooks, ball of twine, cork, and few weights...the man loved to fish and took me all the time...where I got my love of the outdoors...miss him to this day...

A pocket watch from Ma's dad.

From Pa's dad on the Philippines...
Type 99 rifle Arisaka with Bayonet


Type 89 Knee Mortar

Going up, I remember helping him burn the grass every spring. So this weekend, in his honor I did the same to mine. First time in 50 years I've intentionally set fire to my lawn.



Then we did the backyard. Started the fire on the downwind side, But once it reached the center, the wind switched from north to south. That when things started to get interesting.

My grandfather was the department head for the art department of Dixie Cup, the drawings they used on the Star Wars edition paper bathroom cups were his drawings. I have the original prints and drafts of them and a few other drawings including his art school journal. I also have my dad, grandfather and uncles tools but rarely use them, I have some cool old planets and stuff I refinished and sealed but they stay above my workbench.

RIP Grand dad and thanks for the integrity to go along with your 12 gage shotgun. I am passing it on and will see you soon

One died when my dad was 9 and the other died when I was 2. I have nothing.

I was fortunate. I had three grandfathers. 2 blood and 1 step. From one I got a pocket knife. To the world it has no value. But no one on earth could afford it. It was in the box it came in. I opened it when I got it. It had 1 gray hair where the blade goes into the handle. I closed it, put the rubberband back around the box and put it with my other keepsakes. From my Step grandfather I got all his WW2 memorabilia. From one all I got was memories. I also have quilts that my 2 granny's made. One also made baby dolls. She would give them to all the girls @ Christmas. When I was in my 20's I told her that I wanted one instead of a box of cordial cherries, a bottle of old spice and a pair of sox. She says why in the world would a grown man want a baby doll? I said because you made it. I got one the next Christmas. I have it put up too. And plan to give it to my granddaughter when she's old enough to appreciate it.

My gramps taught me how to tie a few knots that I've haven't seen anywhere else. Nor have I met anyone who's ever seen them before.

A genetic predisposition for alcohol and meanness.

I have smoking pipes my grandfather smoked with before cancer took him to the grave .

I have a set of golf clubs that belonged to him, along with a wool fedora. I also don't remember a time when he didn't have a cigar in his mouth. I smoke cigars and every time I get in my truck and smell that smell, I think of him. He and I could be twins, separate by 50 years or so. I also inherited his bald head.

My grandparents with my oldest. My grandmother was lead soprano in the San Francisco opera at 16. She worked with the USO during the war. He served in California as a flight instructor (or something like that--I never saw him fly a plane), and was never deployed into the arena.

A sailor's vocabulary

Some wonderful memories, railroad paraphanalia, and his gold pass for 50 years service (he worked 57 years before he retired) with the Illinois Central railroad.

Granddads Montgomery Wards 16 gauge flat top pump shotgun , Remington rolling block model 4 .22 rifle and his mason ring and cuff links

one of these , not as nice as the picture

MO

8 uncles & 7 aunts plus dad

An old peg-leg that he got from a WW1 Vet. Grandad used it when he broke his ankle.

OLD fishing reels.

A small switch blade that I use for a letter opener.(I promised it to my great-nephew when my dad died, but haven't given it to him)

Above things were passed down thru my dad.

One thing I prized that Grandad gave to me was a 1879 Morgan silver dollar when I broke my arm in his yard(in 1960). I gave it to my great-nephew on his 12th birthday. That was 9 years ago.

This topic sure brings back memories...thanks for starting.

1/2 acre lot next to his house, helped me build my house, Damn I miss him...

unfortunately mine was a drunk and could be xxxhole. While on his bed I remember him punching me in the face when I was a kid. Didn't do anything to have caused it. It was just how he was. I don't have XXXX from him and that is just fine by me.

Sorry my man..

Stories about homesteading around Valentine, Nebraska. Working for the railroad and walking the tracks from Denver to Cheyenne every week and then back the next week. Little man physically, but a giant as far as being a man.

Man I have many things. One of my favorites was an old Italian wine bottle in the shape of an elephants head that stood about three feet tall. He told me boy, if you ever fill that thing with dimes you will be able to get a great vacation. For the last ten years I haven't spent a single dime in change working to fill that bottle. I almost had the head filled in with dimes then last week not watching every move my 2 year old made he decided drag it in the kitchen and knocked it over and it schattered. He was fine thankfully but that was my daily reminder of my grandfather. I also have a very cool Colt 38 police positive and the tackle boxes he use to take me fishing with.

My step grandfather was closer to me than the others. He was a watch repair man and they owned a jewelry store. A lot of wisdom came from him if you got a seat on his porch swing. He had this on a desk in his bedroom. I keep it in my cube...I think it was made for playing cards (he liked to play poker at the elks club on Wednesday's.

Nada.

Mom was an orphan, and dads father was a nasty SOB. I knew the man....I have zero fond memories of him.

Unfortunate, huh.

I went to the old homplace in Cass County and took the plates off an old pickup left in the pasture. The plates were from 1953. I like to think it was his truck. My maturnal Gpa lived in a foreign country and I only saw him once and that was in passing.

Fish scaler, drill, saw. All still work. Drill and saw date to late 50s. All metal no plastic. Grandpa on moms side. From dads side I have muzzleloader and fly rod. Also, several pics from 1920/21 Chicago Bears when he played with George Halas.

I have Dajjies (I got to name him as I was the first grandchild) .22 that I uses to kill my first squirrel and I have his love for fishing. He was a Baptist preacher in eastern Oklahoma and we always had plenty of places to hunt and fish.