[Steve Newton]

I remember many years ago when I was just starting out married life and was still young and idealistic, watching my adopted grandfather speak to folks. He was one of those people who just drew a crowd no matter where he went or what he was doing.

You know the type—someone who never met a stranger and after 5 minutes of talking with him you felt you had known him forever.

My real grandfather had passed years before and I had very little memory of him but my adopted grandfather took over and he looked after me, taught me what was right and wrong and to stand with my head held high with pride but to be humble at the same time.

Times where different then; The kids still said the Pledge of Allegiance in school, everyone stood for the National Anthem, and during parades men would still take off their hats and stand when the American Flag passed by.

He wasn’t personally around a lot but when he was he made a point to shake my hand and say a few words of encouragement or to tell a joke. What a sense of humor he had! I have seen folks that didn’t particularly care for him laugh until they cried at some of his antics. (Having sex at my age is like shooting pool with a rope!)

And while he was a kind and generous man, he believed that with trust in God, you helped yourself and took no handouts unless you really needed one. “Find something you like son and work hard; make something of yourself.” He talked fondly of law enforcement, the military---public service. He loved his country unashamedly and he invoked that feeling in the people around him.

One of the few times I have seen him angry was when someone disrespected his country. His eyes would get cold and his face would change and if you knew him you knew it was time to get out of the way.

He seemed to lead by instinct making you want to follow him because he seemed to know where he was going. In the darkest of times I would listen to him talk and I would not be afraid. He was everyone’s grandfather.

He was quietly religious and his whole foundation rested on God and Country. He was a good guy and I miss him. I wonder if their will ever be another like him when we need him—or her. I hope so and I hope so soon. We shall see.

Thanks Grand dad.

I miss you Ronald Reagan.

[Steve Newton]

I know this will not get many responses.

But I felt a need tonight to post it. I don’t know why. I suppose that I yearn for a President that leads with pride and strenght. Who believed in his heart that we were number one.

We are number one.

I believe that.

And for that and many other things I thank God that we had him for a while.

[tflabo]

Both of my grandpa’s died in 1967. Paternal one would bring some goodies over some sunday’s. Paternal grandma she died in 1945 before any of us kids were born.

[Kickass Conservative]

My B-I-L used to do Picture Framing for President Reagan's Office in Century City.

President Reagan's Assistant was bringing Photos and Paintings to his shop to get framed, but President Reagan asked if my B-I-L would come to the Office and meet with him personally so he was sure to get exactly what he wanted.

My B-I-L became friendly with President Reagan and his Staff. When his Father was going to turn 80, he asked President Reagan's Assistant if he could have his Father meet the President. The Assistant checked with the President and they set it up.

His Father had no idea where his Wife and Son were taking him for his Birthday. They ended up in Century City at an Office Building. They met a Woman in the Lobby who led them to a Private Elevator. His Father just thought there was a Restaurant at the top of the Building. Up the Elevator they go.

When the Elevator Doors opened, there stood President Reagan. My B-I-Laws Father was speechless. President Reagan introduced himself, shook hands and led them through the Office showing them around. He took my B-I-Laws Father aside and they talked for a good half hour while looking out the window at the Skyline from his Private Office.

I write this to assure everyone that President Reagan was exactly what we as Conservatives knew him to be. He was warm, generous with his time and simply a Man among Men.

My B-I-Laws Father spoke of meeting President Reagan for the rest of his Life. He was an accomplished fellow himself, but his meeting and talking to the President was the icing on the cake.

To this day I always give my B-I-L a hard time. He is not Political at all, and here I am envying the picture of him shaking hands with President Reagan. He just tells me the President was a really nice unassuming guy. I would have given a Kidney to be in his position at the time.

[Beowulf9]

My grandfather came from Scotland. He loved archaeology and taught me to work and to save for a rainy day.

I have and I am good for rainy days.

I love archaeology and have read and read of all sorts of ancient civilizations,always with him in mind, hoping he’d be pleased.

I miss him all the time. All the time. He made me a better person.

[Cementjungle]

My maternal GF was an electrical engineer for Bell Labs all his life (MIT educated). I only knew his as a retired guy, watching golf and Lawrence Welk. But, he loved giving me math puzzles all the time, even by mail when I went off to college. I wish he was still around.

[Aliska]

I feel compelled to respond.

My maternal gfather died of stomach cancer about 13 years before I was born so I never knew him.

My paternal gfather, I called "Papa" because that's what my gmother called him. I always insisted I sit next to him at the large farm kitchen table in their large Victorian house on an acreage on the edge of a small town. It was during the war and my father was away. My gmother cooked on an enormous iron stove.

I loved him and followed him to milk the cow in the small barn with garage attached. He sat on a 3-legged milking stool, and that was the oddest thing to me.

He died in 1946 of a heart attack in July when it's probably always hot there. He had been to the farm doing a chore, came home and was stricken. In those days, no paramedics, no hospital. Just the doctor who could do very little. Imagine today compared to that. Lost my father at the same age of the same thing, again, a few years later, he might have lived longer because of the new procedures. He laid on the daybed next to the dining room windows and died 2 weeks later. We went for a last visit, and I remember him lying on there, and that was the first time I had ever seen a urinal. My gmother, of course, cared for him.

After he died, I remember him laid out in a coffin in the parlor. My gmother was trying to carry on normally didn't want us to make any noise. I wanted to play the piano at his feet but she wouldn't let me that time. I didn't go to his funeral. You see no faults in people you love. And nobody can love unconditionally quite like a child can. But my dad's cousin, his nephew, I think there was some bad blood between them. He told me my grandfather had a terrible temper and beat his horses.

I have never forgotten my "Papa" and now grieve for him all these years later.

My grandfather on the home place in late 1800's as a young man. He's in the back row on the far right (I think). I don't know who some brothers are in the photo. That farm has long since been sold out of the family but I love the way the house was.

[Bellflower]

I miss and love my Grandpa all the time. My Grandparents took us in when they didn’t have to and always loved us, even though we went through quite a time of rebellion. He had/has the bluest eyes, that still shine in my heart after all of these years. As I type this, my eyes well up with tears.

[longfellow]

He sounds like Red Skelton. That ys a compliment, i am not trying to be funny.

[Vermont Lt]

Not really. One died when I was very little. The other died in 1936.

Sometimes you get thrown curve balls. You learn to hit them.