This is the last picture taken of my Grandpa with me Easter 2004. We lost him October 2nd, 2004. He like Pap listed below suffered many heart attacks during his life (a good, long, 86 years) and succumbed to the third one. He did not retire until he was 72! He cut up trucks with a torch for scrap metal. This was hard labor and to do it until ones seventies is quite impressive. He loved spaghetti dinners. He loved Indiana County, the countryside, farming, and "just watching things grow". He loved us and us him.
 
 

This is my maternalgrandma, Big Grandma (I started calling her that when I just started talking,because she was taller than my other grandma so it made sense).  We had a lot of fun together.  She was the best cook whose food I'veever had the pleasure to eat (though Aunt Donna comes really close). Things she taught me included:  always work hard, be nice to others,and how to bake bread.  She grew up on a farm in Western Pennsylvania.

Never afraid of manual labor, B.G. always wore short sleeve shirts,because long sleeves would get in her way.  She worked a variety ofjobs, including cashier at various stores like Dollar General and a fewdrug stores around Indiana, PA.  She made light bulbs for GE and gaugesfor automobiles.  She worked right up till the end of her life, evenworking overtime after being diagnosed with cancer.  A normal workweek for her was 60 hours.  My mom and I often can't believe the hoursB.G. would work and the amount of dedication she had for doing a good job. Life was not easy for her in Western PA.  Grandma maintained a largegarden and was quite capable with a gun to shoot small game to put foodon the table when money was tight.  Something I always have a difficulttime fathoming when I talk to Mom and her sisters, is that up until thelate 1960's, B.G. and family lived in a house without indoor plumbing facilities! Needless to say, I don't come from a family that is typical of most Pennstudents.
 
 
 
 

This is my Dad. He spent most of his life in Indiana, Pennsylvania.  He was one ofthe first in his family to finish high school (Pap nor Little Grandma --see below -- finished high school) and go to college.  He had a bachelorsdegree in Economics from IUP.  Then he went to work in the steel millwith Pap.  He went to school part time and got a bachelors degreein computer science.  After getting that degree he got a job at LukensSteel in Coatesville, PA (which is why the family moved from Indiana toChester County).  Dad was always looking for ways to improve himself,always taking more classes, and always looking for a good opportunity. He eventually became a computer consultant, working for several differentconsulting firms.  At the height of his career he was named Mid AtlanticConsultant of the Quarter for Cap Gemini.  This picture was takento go into the company news letter announcing his award.
 
 
 
 
 

This isPap and Little Grandma.  Little Grandma was about 5' 2" where BigGrandma was about 5'10" so you can see the logic in the nomenclature. Little Grandma was also from Indiana, PA.  She grew up in that bustlingmetropolis.  When she was about 14, her sister got sick and L.G. quitschool to take care of her sister.  I always thought she was a brightlady.  In fact all of the people on this page were bright.  L.G.was always reading, particularly the Good Book.  Its because of herthat I know all of the Bible Stories I do - not to discount the effortput forth by the rest of my family in fostering my faith, but she certainlymade sure that my bed time stories were Biblical and not Grimm's.

Pap is perhaps the biggest influence on my life.  This is a guywho pulled himself up from his boot straps.  Born in 1924 in a poorWestern PA family, his dad passed away when he was three, leaving him andhis three siblings and mom.  Then the depression hit.  The familycouldn't afford coal for heat, so Pap would go walk along the railroadtracks and pick up the coal that would fall off the trains.  I knowthis sounds like the "I had to walk to school up hill both ways" stories,but he did live it.  His mom remarried and had more kids and someof Pap's brothers and sisters went to live at the family farm in New Castle,PA.

At age 16 he had had enough of school and went to work at a Tree Nursery. By 18 he left home - he used to say when he packed it didn't take long,he just had to grab his other shirt and his other pair of pants and heleft.  Shortly there after he started work at National Roll (a.k.a.the Steel Mill) and married L. G..  He started as a general laborer,but decided to become a molder.  In order to be a molder he had tofirst be apprenticed - the mill took a nickle off his forty cent an hourwage to become an apprentice.  It wasn't long after this till WWIIbroke out.  The mill shut down and Pap had to move to Newcastle, PAto take a job at Youngstown Sheet and Tube.  L.G. stayed in Indiana. Pap missed L.G. and fortunately the mill reopened to cast armor parts fortanks.  Thus, Pap returned to Indiana to work at the mill making moldsfor the armor.  A bad car wreck injured his legs and shoulder makinghim unfit for military service (though Uncle Jim - Pap's brother - didserve in Europe, helping to save the free world - as Tom Brokaw would putit.  L.G.'s contribution to the war effort was manufacturing handgrenades).

After the War, Pap continued at the foundry.  He went from apprenticemolder to journeyman molder then to working leader to foreman.  Heprogressed in this way up the management ladder all the way to superintendentof the plant.

He retired at 58 and spent much of his retired life with his grand kids(me and my brother).  Being retired didn't mean he sat on his butt. For example, I have yet to meet another 72 year old rig up a block andtackle system in a tree in his yard to lift off an old truck bed and replaceit with a new truck bed by himself.  Pap and I used to go a lot ofplaces together.  When I was into baseball cards, he'd take to mecard shows.  When I was into model air planes we'd go to model airplane shows.  I'd go with him to look at cars, pick up furniture thatGrandma wanted, and just drive around the country side.  We'd sitand talk about the foundry (he'd do most of the talking about that) cars,racing, the good ol' days, and so on.  We watched a lot of NASCARraces together.  He and I were both Dale Earnhardt fans.

He survived two heart attacks that were undetected until he was treatedfor his third, and he even made it past his fourth heart attack. But the fifth one got him at age 74.  He had a lot of favorite sayingsthat I'm prone to quoting from time to time.  Some of them include:

• Its not a sin to be poor, but it sure is inconvenient
• Busier than a one armed paper hanger with the itch
• Busier than a one legged man stomping out a brush fire
• Don't force it, get a bigger hammer
• It won't be long now -- that's what the monkey said when his tail got runover by the lawn mower
• I said to myself, self ...
• Do something even if it's wrong  (this is to be used when someoneis unnecessarily delaying making a decision, it is a version of he whohesitates is lost)
• I don't know where everybody's going, but where ever it is we must be latebecause they're all coming back.  (for when there is a stream of steadytraffic traveling in the direction opposite of your own)
• Don't pass up a sure thing for a possibility.
• Money is the root of all evil, and I could use more root.
• The further up the ladder you go, the more of your ass others can see.
• The biggest loss when someone passes away is the loss of experience.
• A little bit is good, a whole lot's better, and too much is just enough.
• Even a blind squirrel gets an acorn once in a while.