What are some stories your wizened old gramps used to tell you..?

  My gramps liked to talk about his days in the army, stationed on Adak, Alaska.  Army Corps of Engineers constructing roads, airfields and AAA mounts all over Alaska. Constructing defenses against a possible Japanese or Soviet attack from that direstion.  He bragged about working on the famous Alkan Highway.  While in bivouac he would say they could look outside their tents and see what appeared to be black smoke rising out of a hole in the ground.  The "black smoke" was, in fact, millions of mosquitos...

  Also, gramps and his chums met and befriended an old woman who was a native of the area.  Part Eskimo, or somesuch.  She had to walk her trap line which ran in a 30 mile circuit.  Gramps talked about the old woman bringing them pies (I forget what kind of pies) and home cooked food, as a gift, while out tending her traps, then walking the 30 miles home again.  They appreciated it very much...

  Gramps talked about the island of Adak, and pointed-out it was only X-amount of miles from Kamchatka Penninsula, USSR.  He said the island was known to "disappear" from time to time, being swallowed by the sea, then re-emerging.  I'm not sure about that story.  Should look it up...

  Also, the lifelong ringing in one of his ears was the result of a motorcycle accident in his younger days.  He said that while laying in the hospital bed his mother sold his Indian Chief for ten bucks (or some small amount of money), she was so worried about him.  He wasn't happy about that...

  I've heard each of these stories, and more, around 121 times.  I remember thinking his stories were an ordeal, but now I wish he was here to tell some more...

I know what you mean    :(

I have a friend like that.... and then when I say oh I remember you telling me this before then she'll say remember "this part?" I'll say yeah then she'll proceed on with the story from that point....  ::)

My Dad tells the same stories repeatedly.  I've started doing the same thing.  Must be a age process thing.  There are a few family members who I wish were around to tell their stories a few more times.  Too bad I didn't appreciate them when I was a kid.

My Dad tells the same stories repeatedly.  I've started doing the same thing.  Must be a age process thing.  There are a few family members who I wish were around to tell their stories a few more times.  Too bad I didn't appreciate them when I was a kid.


yeah I wish my great grandmother were around. I was too young to even understand what kind of fascinating stories she might have. she was born at the turn of the century  (late 1800s to 1902) not really sure of the exact date.. I wanna say it was the 1800s tho.

My maternal grandmother lived in Guanica Puerto Rico when the U.S. invaded in 1898 - she was a young teen.  Her story of what happened that morning is quite funny.  Wish I had it on tape.  Which is what we all should do with these stories, record them. 

Anyway, as she told it, the few Spanish soldiers in town rang the church bells after seeing the U.S. troops unloading out beyond the harbor.  The people turned out.  They were told that the women and kids should run into the forest and hid, they would go to the next town and bring back reinforcements and extra guns, so the men should meet them on the beach to defend the Patria.  When they got back the found that the men had all run into the forest and were hiding, and the women and kids were all at the beach waving white handkerchiefs at the invading troops.  Such was the grat victory.

A few years ago I was at the national archives doing research and looked p General Miles' report.  "We have overcome stiff resistance on the beaches of Guanica.  Casualties: none killed, one injured (sprained ankle).

My mother repeats her stories all the time but when it really bugs me is when she repeats it in the same phone conversation.  I tell her, "Ma, you just told me that 5 minutes ago."



Cat

My mother repeats her stories all the time but when it really bugs me is when she repeats it in the same phone conversation.  I tell her, "Ma, you just told me that 5 minutes ago."



Cat


that's really bad!

yeah I wish my great grandmother were around. I was too young to even understand what kind of fascinating stories she might have. she was born at the turn of the century  (late 1800s to 1902) not really sure of the exact date.. I wanna say it was the 1800s tho.


My great-uncle was born in 1907.  I remember him telling about how they farmed with mules.  I also remember hearing him talk about the Great Depression and how much cars were back in the 30's.  What I wouldn't do to have him beat me at just one more game of checkers and tell me one more story.

My gramps used to tell shaggy dog stories over and over again about walking across the city in the middle of the winter during the depression to save a nickel on carfare.  He liked to talk about how his mother was the first woman licensed to drive in the state of Massachusetts, and how long it took in 1913 to drive from Williamstown to Boston!  He told over and over again about working as a cub reporter and writing a story about an escaped mental patient who committed a sexual assault then ran away, his headline: Nut Screws and Bolts!  This is, of course, an ancient urban legend, but he adopted it as his own and it became the truth after six decades.  Oh, he worked for a little magazine in just getting started in the 1920s in NYC, it featured reviews, fiction, and essays, and cartoons by the best writers in town...you wouldn't have heard of it...it was called the New Yorker.....He talked about the first dinner date with my grandmother, for dessert they ordered apple pie and coffee and angel cake and tea, and the waitress got the orders mixed up.....


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