Pappy

Dear Liliyah:

Now it's time to write about my Grandfathers.  My Great Grandfathers were all gone before I came along.  However, I have great memories of both of my Grandfathers.  These two men would be your Great Great Grandfathers.

So....do you remember Granny, your Great Great Grandmother and my Grandmother?  Her husband's name was Earl Smith.  This is who I called my Pappy.  Pappy was around until I was 4 years old; but it's amazing how much I remember of him.  He reminded me of the cartoon Popeye, and Pappy looked just like Popeye's father.  In the cartoon, Popeye's father was also called Pappy.  Maybe that's why I called him that?

Pappy was a mason.  He laid bricks and made roads.  This was way back in the 1930's to the 1950's when many roads were made out of brick instead of blacktop.  In the town of Holley, I remember when the roads in the village were all brick.  Those roads were made by Pappy.  Sometimes when there are potholes in the blacktop out there, you can see the bricks underneath.  I can remember when I was in High School and my friends and I would walk down into the village to get something to eat.  I would see bricks through the blacktop that had chipped away; and I would make sure all of my friends knew that my Pappy laid those bricks.  It was one way for me to remember him.

My Pappy had silver hair and always had a pipe in his mouth.  When I think of him today, I always remember the smell of his pipe.  I can remember my favorite game with Pappy.  Pappy would be sitting in his chair in the living room.   I would run through the house and into the living room; and when I would run past Pappy, he would grab me and lock me between his knees and tickle me.  I can remember laughing and screaming for Granny to come and save me.  Granny would come in and pretend
to scold Pappy and he would let me go.  Then we would do it all over again.

Granny and Pappy had a braided run in their dining room.  I use to like to walk around and around on that braided rug and follow the lines.  I felt like I was driving on a road and had to stay on certain braids as I went around and around.  Pappy said that I took my first steps on that braided rug.  Here is a picture of me when I was real little walking around that rug.  Pappy took that picture.

Catching me as I ran past him, rubbing his whiskers into my face, and laughing at everything I did.  That's what I'll always remember about my Pappy.  He was a truly happy man.

I remember the day Pappy died.  I was only 4 years old.  The brief memory I have is being in the back seat of the car holding my baby brother and my Mother and my Grandma Campbell were in the front.  Grandma Campbell pulled up to Granny and Pappy's house very quickly.  My mother got out of the car and ran as fast as she could for the house.  I didn't know until she got out of the car that she was crying.  She was so distraught that she didn't even kiss me good-bye.  As young as I was, I still knew that something very bad had happened.  Grandma Campbell took me back to her house.  As I grew older, I found out that was the day that Pappy had a massive heart attack and died.  He was 58 years old.

Your Great Great Grandfather Pappy will always be known to me as a happy man, smoking his pipe and teasing Granny, his kids, and his grandkids.

Love You,
Nana