Tell me about your grandparents

[Mariana]

57. Sure.

My dad's father was born in 1907 in central Massachusetts. He had 3 older siblings who lived, and 2 younger ones. His mother died shortly after his 11th birthday. His father was a carpenter and moved the family from town to town often, until he fell off a roof and sustained a head injury that caused seizures for the rest of his life, sometime in the 1920's. Then my grandpa went to live with his older sister in Rhode Island. He worked in the jewelry trade, where he met my great grandfather, who introduced him to my grandma. They married bought a house, and had two children who lived, the elder was my father. He never went to high school, but he became a writer and a respected local historian. His other hobbies were salt water fishing and hunting for Native American artifacts. He was also quite a joker. It was so much fun to spend time with him, he was always doing something interesting. He died in 1995.

His wife, my dad's mother, was born in Rhode Island in 1909. Her mother was from Yorkshire, England and her father was the son of German immigrants. She had 3 brothers, two older and one younger. After she graduated high school, she joined the Salvation Army and went to training in the Bronx, and then to Ohio where she worked with at-risk young teens. When her time was up, she came home and worked as a piano teacher and stenographer until my father was born. She went into labor with my father during the 1938 hurricane, and had a great adventure getting to the hospital just in time. She was very creative and taught me to do all kinds of arts and crafts projects. She was an amazing cook, too, her clam chowder was the best anywhere and she made awesome frappes. She died in 1994.

My mom's father lived his entire life in one small Massachusetts town near Boston. He was born in 1909 and had one older brother. His father was a master plumber, and my grandfather and his brother joined him in the business. He graduated from high school in his town, and went to technical school to get certified as a master plumber himself. He married a local schoolteacher, and his best friend married her sister, and they all remained very close throughout their lives. They were married for 26 years when she died, and four years later he remarried. He was very active in the goings-on in the town, he served as selectman for some time, and was the plumbing inspector for a while. After his first wife died, he gave up elected offices but remained active in several social and civic groups until his death in 1998. He is a descendant of George Soule who was on the Mayflower.

My mom's mother also lived her entire life in that same town. She was the daughter of immigrants from Canada - her father was from Quebec, and her mother was from New Brunswick. She was born in 1910 and had one older sister. She graduated from a private high school in her town, then went to the state teachers college, where she earned a Bachelor's Degree. She worked as a teacher until her son was born, and then went back to work when her daughter started school. She loved the outdoors, and they had a tiny cottage in the woods near a lake where they spent most of the summers, swimming, hiking, biking, fishing, and boating. However, she was an alcoholic and did not take care of her health, and pretty much ignored her high blood pressure. She died in 1964 of a cerebral hemorrhage.