What a family story!
I lived in northern Michigan with my mom and my dad was a cop in Detroit (they were divorced). During the 50's dad would drive up to where I lived to pick me up and take me back to Detroit to spend the summer with he and my grandparents. While on the drive back, he would always stop to see Uncle Al who would be sober for us and show me wondrous things that he would save for me.
Most notable that I can only remember were a birds nest with eggs he had found and saved in an outside refrigerator for me then another time a giant snapping turtle he had caught and put in the bottom of a 50 gallon barrel before he butchered it for food.......I wish I could remember more.