My Grandfather

About this time of year, my brother and I go over to my Grandparents house to set up Christmas lights since they can’t do it themselves. Well, Joey was stuck at Abilene this year, so it was just me this year. My grandfather, who I’ve always called Tata (pronounced “That-tha”), came over yesterday and picked me up from my house.

When I got there, Tata and I pulled out the Christmas lights and went around the house (they use those icicle lights that hang down about 10 inches, and they get tangled up pretty easily) and put them up. I went inside and grabbed some food from my ever-generous grandmother (“Mema”, pronounced as spelled), said goodbye, and headed out to the car with my grandfather to go home.

I was thinking about Christmas safety guidelines and asked Tata, “How much power do you think that many Christmas lights pulls? I mean, will it overload the circuit, or is it pretty safe?”

Now let me give some background to my grandfather here for a second. Tata grew up in Laredo, TX in a pretty poor family. He went to school for elementary and I think some of middle school, but then stayed home to work on his uncle’s ranch and help his father, who was a carpenter. You might think that he would have stayed with that general area of work for a while, but he had dreams for a better job and life.

He was very interested in building things, so he went to a bookstore on his own and bought some books on engineering, read them in his spare time, and ended up with what was then a college level of math ability. But before he start his career, he turned eighteen and World War II was still raging. He spent a few months in a base out near Abilene, TX, but was soon sent overseas to New Guinea. Because of his skill with math, He became part of the Army Corps of Engineers, and spent quite a bit of time building bridges, buildings and other military structures useful to the war effort.

As I understand it, he was moved around to several different continents over the next few years and worked on many different projects until the war ended in September 1945. His “attachment” (for lack of a better word) to the armed forces was so great that when he came home and married my grandmother, he stayed in the army and was stationed at a base somewhere in Texas. There he worked as a building inspector, deciding whether work was adequate or whether it needed to be redone.

Over the years, he worked on thousands of different projects involving anywhere from military airports and runways to then-top-secret missile silos hidden in farm fields (which have now been sold off since they have no more use; according to Tata, you can even buy them online now). He moved onto a higher paying job in Dallas decades later, but not after winning “10 or 13″ awards (his words) for going above and beyond the normal job capabilities for an inspector. A few years ago, he retired from his Dallas job because it was too hard to commute from here to Dallas. When he turned in his two weeks notice, they were so desperate to keep him that they offered him a very substantial pay raise or a greatly reduced number of hours for the same amount of money. He declined both.

Back to present day. His and my grandmother’s physical condition has been in decline for a while now. He’s not as active as he used to be, and watches more TV than he used to. His hearing has been failing for a while and he uses a cane. He gets on the computer from time to time to email back and forth with relatives and family (the computer has been a great blessing to that household).

My grandfather is definitely does not have as much social interest as he has intelligence. He thinks things through, has a very analytical way about him, doesn’t like small talk, and generally won’t speak unless it’s something he’s interested in or if someone asks him a question. It’s kind of funny that he married my grandmother, who doesn’t have nearly the same analytical ability that he has, but is the most social, loving woman you’ll ever meet. She has a wonderful heart, cares about everyone she knows, and prays constantly for all of her friends and family. Yet they love and have loved each other for nearly sixty years.

Whenever I leave their house, I always think, “What kind of things could I have learned from Tata that I missed out on today?” He has such an eagerness to pass on what he knows, but I don’t think he has as much energy to do so anymore.

I think he’s realized this already. So, whenever I ask him a question about something math-related, he’ll give me the original book he first learned it out of. Wow! I can hardly believe I get to inherit books that my Grandfather has kept for 70+ years, just to pass on. It makes me wonder, does he see part of himself in me? Every time either of us starts talking about anything Math or Science related, we both jump onto the topic. I’m not very socially-oriented either, but my grandfather and I always can find something to talk about that we’re both interested in.

Every so often, I think about what’s going to happen when he passes on. As I write this, I sort of feel myself tensing up, because I’ve become very attached to my grandfather. He knows so much, I often wonder what will happen when our family loses such a giant of perseverance and intelligence. He’s been a foundation for our family. I can only hope that we can learn all that we can about him and that I can turn around and tell my children about my grandfather.

So I’m going to sum up this note by saying this: My grandfather, throughout his life, became a building block in the foundation of his country, his family, and his descendants. Thanks, Tata.