Prelude - by Robert R. Anschuetz II, February, 2000
My Grandpa was a great storyteller. He talked literally non-stop from the time a visitor walked into the door until the time he left. He often repeated stories over and over again, so most of the stories that he told sunk in so well, I will never forget them. I wish I had written these down 10 years ago when they were fresher in my mind, but I'll try my best to put the stories on paper before the details get even foggier. Grandpa's stories were usually based on truth, with some "enhancements" thrown in for flavor. Sometimes I didn't know if he was "B.S.ing" (in his own words), other times I was certain he was, but nonetheless, I was always entertained.

Grandpa's parents both came from Sant' Agata Di Militello and he was the first generation USA Colloraffi. His family worked hard, as did he, so that he could graduate from college. His and his family's goal was that he was to be a doctor, but instead, he graduated from Ohio State with a teaching certificate. He married a pretty Scotch-Irish nurse from southern Ohio soon after graduation and, because of the depression, got a job in the auto-industry rather than teaching. He worked hard to provide for his family and raised 4 daughters. Because he was worried that the name Colloraf(f)i would die with him, my Mom started the Colloraffi research project, never knowing that she would be able to trace our family back to 1730!

What's My Name?
Grandpa went by several names. He was probably born Domenico or Dominico, but told family members that his name was Dominic. (See note below) To avoid some of the ethnicity of the name, he told new acquaintances that his name was Donald. This was the name used on his bank accounts, etc. Close friends and my Dad called him by the name Cal. Everyone else just called him Grandpa. Grandpa was born without a middle name. Somewhere in school or when applying for a job, the beaurocracy insisted that he present a middle name. Quickly thinking, he came up with a name beginning with "A" - Aluishious! When Grandpa was confirmed in the Catholic church as a young boy, he was given the name Thomas.  (Footnote to "What's My Name?" by Janice Colloraffi Anschuetz - daughter of "Cal"...I wanted to name my 5th child after my father, but he would not tell me his name. He had always gone by Donald Alfred, which I did not think was his real name. ...So, instead I thought I would take a chance that his "real name" was Domenic and told my dad that I had given our son, Kurt, the middle name of "Domenic". He said, "Ha! Ha! Ha! - THAT'S NOT MY NAME...SO, I SAID, "DAD, IT MUST BE DOMENICO THEN', AND MY DAD SAID NOTHING SO THAT IS PROBABLY HIS BIRTH NAME -He would have been named, as the oldest son after his paternal grandfather,Domenico Colloraffi.

The World's Largest High School - in the World
Grandpa often bragged that he went to the "world's largest high school - in the world." This "Yogi Berraism" redundancy often brought chuckles to Eric and me. James Monroe High School in the Bronx must have been a large high school. At the time Grandpa attended the high school in the years around 1925, the Bronx was an immigrant's mecca, with several Italian and Jewish neighborhoods. Grandpa said that the school was 99% Jewish, and on Yom Kippur, only a couple of people would show up! Grandpa had a famous classmate at James Monroe - none other than Hank Greenberg (a Jew - providing a bit of evidence that Grandpa was correct on his 99% figure), who would go on to be drafted and star for the Detroit Tigers. Grandpa lived at 866 E. 178^th St. in the Bronx, and went to public school (PS ). Hank Greenberg went to the rival PS *. Grandpa ran track for James Monroe High School, and would talk about the outdoor track. I think it was on top of one of the buildings, or something strange like that. I don't know what kind of academic student Grandpa was, but he was good enough to go to Manhattan College afterwards in a day when very few people went to college. Grandpa won letters in track at James Monroe, but somehow over the years, he had lost them. Late in his life, around 1990, Grandpa wrote a letter to the principal at James Monroe and told him that he had lost the track letters that he had won about 65 years earlier. The principal wrote back a nice letter and sent a brand new replacement letter. Grandpa was very proud of his letter and always pulled it out when we came to visit.

Grandpa the Sailor Man
Grandpa used to be quite an accomplished sailor in his younger days. He used to have a small sailboat that he sailed out of Fire Island on Long Island. He knew how to tie all of the knots required of a sailor, and I believe he saved somebody's life that was drowning. Grandpa also rigged a sail to hold while ice skating in the winter time, that would propel him great distances at great speed. Later, Grandpa joined the Navy in a way to get out of New York, but his father "bought back" his civilian status with a bribe to get him out off the boat. Grandpa sailed all the way to Panama, and his father got him off after he got back. This story was amended by Grandpa's daughter, Janice.  Here is the rest of the story about joining the Navy...First, he did not go to Panama. There was a big Colloraffi family fight in NY...Aunt Lucy wanted to marry Joe Sindone. His parents were against this since Joe's father worked in the family vineyard in Sicily, and they thought that she was marrying beneath her. I think that there were also arranged marriages for each of the children, which would embarrass the families if those ties were broken. My dad sided with his sister and there was a big fight. I imagine that everyone lost all control, certainly my dad did when he was angry. He decided to quit college and join the Navy. (His family probably said something like they would disown him and no longer help him with money for school, etc.) So he would show them and join the Navy where he could be independent. He was on a ship in the NY harbor, ready to sail, and here comes his dad. He had heard of my dad's "solution to the problem", and had "bought" Domenico out of the Navy using his connections, which is the way a lot of business was done in those days of Little Italies in NY. This is the reason that I know of the family vineyard. When I started my C. project, I thought that our vineyard was in San Piero Patti, which Rose C. told me about. However, as I learned more about the culture of Sicily, it probably was a few acres outside of Sant' Agata. I have learned that families tried to have some farm space to grow fresh vegetables and to farm. They rarely lived on this land, as in Germany, and would have someone to work the land for them. Then, they would get together with other family members and friends to make a year's supply of wine.

Sites of New York
Grandpa grew up in the Bronx, near the Bronx zoo. He also grew up not far from Yankee stadium, because he often mentioned that he saw Babe Ruth and the Yankees play. He said that Babe Ruth would always touch second base as a superstition as he ran in from the outfield. Grandpa saw the city of New York grow up in the early part of the 20^th century. He mentioned that he witnessed the top spire of the Chrysler building being trucked down the street before it was lifted to the pinnacle of the then world's-largest skyscraper. Grandpa said that he used to go to a local park as a kid, and once he dug up bones in the local park of a Hessian soldier from the Revolutionary War.

Grandpa the Truck Driver
Grandpa said that he used to drive a delivery truck in New York City. He used to talk about making deliveries in Philadelphia.

Grandpa the Track Star
Grandpa was quite an accomplished track star. He ran track at James Monroe High School, Manhattan College, Ohio University, and Ohio State University. He used to tell stories of how he used to put liniment oil in the jock straps of opponents, so their "balls would burn." He also said that on relay teams, he would club the opponents with the baton. That's Grandpa! He used to say that he almost qualified for the Olympics, but never got into more details than that. He would talk about running in the Penn Relays and the IC4A championships. He also mentioned that whenever he participated at the Drake Relays, it always rained. Whenever he mentioned IC4A, he used to try to say what it stood for, but would always end up 1 or 2 A's short at the end (I think it stands for International Collegiate Amateur Athletic Association of America). Grandpa would talk about running in the Horseshoe Stadium at Ohio State, and says that his name is in a plaque hanging inside the corridors of the stadium.

Ohio University - the Better University
Grandpa went to Ohio University for 2 years, then transferred to Ohio State University, where he earned his bachelor of chemistry degree. He always said that he liked Ohio University much better. The comparison often broke down into the following story: at Ohio University, test tubes for Chemistry classes were free if they were broken, at Ohio State, the students had to pay for them. He also complained that he was "just a number" at a large university such as Ohio State. He used to say, "To tell you the truth, I hate Ohio State University." I'm not sure he really hated it (especially when he starts a sentence with "to tell you the truth" - you usually knew NOT to expect the truth), but I'm sure he liked Ohio University better. Whenever my mom gave him Ohio State paraphernalia, he would always complain, but he loved wearing the green Ohio University sweatshirt she gave him.

Fire at the Frat House
Grandpa belonged to the Sigma Delta Phi fraternity at Ohio University. It was "all degos" - meaning Italians. Grandpa's father's cousin, "Eagle Beak" Gugliotto(Gugliano), belonged to the fraternity, and one day tapped Grandpa on the shoulder and said, "Are you a Colloraffi? I'm your cousin!" This is what got him in. Grandpa said that he always hung out with the Italians, and the first year of college, he couldn't eat because he was used to olive oil, and the restaurants and cafeterias used lard in cooking that upset his stomach terribly. The frat house was a large house, and Grandpa's bunk was in the top floor of the house. One fall day, there was a dance going on and the house was decorated with corn stalks that the frat members grabbed from neighboring farms. The corn stalks were foolishly placed near the fireplace, and managed to catch fire. One frat boy, trying to think quickly, ran to the kitchen to grab a glass of water to throw on the burning corn stalks, but by this time, the whole house was on fire! Two members of the frat house were taking a bath upstairs when this happened (we never asked for further details about that!), and they got out of the tub and wrapped towels around them and climbed down the ladder downstairs. Grandpa tried to save some books of his, and threw them out the window, knocking out the two frat members that had climbed out of the bathtub!

Spying on the Women's Swim Team
Grandpa had many stories that ended with "they almost kicked me out of school for that." He seemed to make regular treks to the dean's office. Once, Grandpa had a job in college of delivering laundry to the women's swim team. To get to the locker room, he had to go down stairs and open a door. One day he surprised the team when he entered the locker room, and the whole team was standing there naked. After that, he had to blow a whistle before going down the stairs to the locker room.

Plagiarism from Collier's Magazine
Grandpa once submitted a book report that he had copied from Collier's magazine. He thought for sure he could get away with it, but the female teacher happened to subscribe to the magazine. Sure enough, he was caught.

Getting Caught by the Dean
The story that Grandpa liked to tell the most was the one where he and several fraternity members took several sorority girls out on a date in an old clunker car that he had. The date was apparently going fine, but on the way back, they got lost. The car was old and didn't have working headlights, so they had to light a lantern and hold it in the air while he tried to navigate back to the dorm rooms. By the time they got back, they were way past the curfew, and the doors to the sorority had been locked. They knew that the only way to get the girls back in was to lift them up through the windows. It was very dark, but the frat boys set up a human chain and ladder where they would lift the girls up to get into the windows. Each girl, one by one, was helped up and the frat boys finally managed to get them all in through the windows. When the last girl was in, Grandpa turned to his left to the man helping him, and who do you think it was? - the DEAN OF THE COLLEGE!

Under the Horseshoe
At Ohio State University, Grandpa had a chemistry class that held its lab underneath the stands at the football stadium. Grandpa was a big football fan, but said that he only went to one game while at Ohio State. Of course, he used to run in the stadium for track, and was even on the same team as Jessie Owens. Grandpa used to talk about being under the stands in the chemistry lab, while hearing the crowd go wild cheering, only to wonder what was going on.

Autopsies, Birds, and a Surgery
Grandpa had a forensic class at Ohio State where he had to perform an actual autopsy on a man. I'll never forget his description - "a big black man with a tag on his toe." Another memorable class description was one where he had to identify different types of birds for an ornithology class for a final exam. He said that they were all stuffed in test tubes - a gruesome site if you think about it. A less likely true story was one where Grandpa claimed he had to perform an appendectomy on someone. Grandpa's Chemistry major allowed him to take some pre-med classes, but I'm not certain that he would have been allowed to perform surgery, but he used to describe the technique in great detail.

Grandpa's Best Friend
No doubt about it, Grandpa's best friend in the world was Bill Shear (or Shearer, or Shehrer). Bill Shear was prominent in many of Grandpa's stories. Shear was a trackmate of Grandpa's at Ohio University, and also in his fraternity. I believe Grandpa knew him back in New York, and it was Shear who steered him to Ohio University. Shear and Grandpa were like brothers at Ohio University - double dating, taking classes together, and hanging out as buddies throughout their college careers. I don't know how the two got separated, but it most likely occurred when Grandpa transferred to Ohio State from Ohio University. I don't think Bill Shear made the transfer, but I could be wrong. Grandpa always talked about him like he was still his best friend, even though he lost touch completely for the last 50 years of his life.

Two Larry Schneider's
There were two Larry Schneider's that Grandpa often talked about. One was a genetics professor at Ohio State and one was the track coach at Ohio State. The track coach was also the track coach of Jesse Owens at Ohio State. The genetics professor went on to teach at the University of Hawaii, and Grandpa often mentioned that he offered him several job opportunities to come out and teach there, but Grandpa turned them all down.

Twin Uncles
Grandpa had twin uncles, Uncle Sam (Salvatore) and Uncle Louie (Luigi). They were his mother's brothers. Grandpa said that they were mirror image twins. One had something like 5 boys and a girl, and the other had 5 girls and a boy. Grandpa also only liked one of them, because the other had caught him in some sort of trouble in college and told his mother. He said that when one of them died, the other one showed up at the funeral, and the brother's girlfriend fainted.(They were both widowed)

The Relatives in Cleveland
Grandpa had several Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins in the Cleveland area. Several of them were masons and plasterers. He always said that they were some of the first plasterers in the world to use stilts to reach ceilings. He also said that one of his relatives brought an olive tree from Sicily and grew it in Cleveland for several years. Perhaps the best story to come out of Cleveland was a relative that was owed money by someone back in Sicily. (for selling houses that his grandfather, Ignazio Modica had bought) Instead of sending money, the person that owed the relative sent a ton of cheese and olive oil, which, according to Grandpa, filled up the entire garage.

A New Car for $100!
Grandpa loved cars. He used to work at Chrysler, but his affection for automobiles was nurtured several years before that in his college days. He talked about the old jalopies that he once owned - how they were barely held together by a thread. He also talked about his first new car that he was able to afford once he started to make a living in Detroit as an accountant for Briggs, and later Chrysler. He often bragged that he would buy a new car every year by trading in the old one and giving the dealer $100. This string of trade-ins continued for something like 20 years. I remember a Dodge Polara of about 1972 vintage with a white exterior and vinyl red interior. I remember it being the first car I ever rode in with air conditioning, and riding in it when Grandma and Grandpa took us to the zoo when we were young kids. My family later ended up owning the car (Grandpa sold it for $250 to my Mom) and she drove it to attend University of Michigan School of Social Work. It was plastered with Ohio State decals from my grandpa and Ohio State is the main rival for U or M.

An Offer from the Governor
This story was related by Grandpa's son-in-law, Bob, at Grandpa's funeral on October 31, 1997.

One of my favorites was about the time Cal -- then a student at Ohio State was driving back home to New York for Christmas vacation. On the road between Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and New York, with rain and sleet falling in sheets, he spotted a hitchhiker and stopped to pick him up. The hitchhiker proved an ingrate, however, proceeding to stick a gun in Cal's face and hijack a car. That left Cal himself with no choice but to stick out his thumb and hope for a lift. Suddenly, a car swooshed by and splattered him from head to foot with mud. After assessing the damage to his clothes, he looked up and noticed that the car had come to a stop a short distance away. He ran to it and discovered, to his surprise, that it was none other than the official state car of the governor of Pennsylvania. The driver apologized for the mudbath he had ca used and offered to give Cal a lift. As they drove off, he explained that he was the governor's secretary, on his way to New York to pick up prints of photos the governor had taken during a safari in Africa. I'm a bit fuzzy on the next point -- which may have varied from one telling of the story to the next. But I believe the secretary also told Cal he was taking some of the governor's suits to a dry cleaner in New York. Cal was encouraged to change out of his own splattered clothing into one of these suits during the drive. He did so, and then related to the secretary the events that had brought him to his pass. In New York, he accompanied the governor's man to the cleaners and had his own clothes restored at state expense. He then exchanged the governor's clothes for his own and made his way home for
Christmas. Some weeks later, when Cal was back at Ohio State, there was a knock at the door. To Cal's surprise, it was the governor's secretary, and at his side a police sergeant. The sergeant told Cal his car had been recovered and was standing outside. He also reported that the car theif had been apprehended and was already in jail, beginning a fifteen-year sentence for armed robbery. The best news for Cal, however, was that he was personally invited by the governor to pay him a visit at the state capital in Harrisburg. On arriving for this visit, as Cal told it, he had to cool his heels for what seemed like hours as various dignitaries shuttled into and out of the governor's office. Thinking he was spurned, Cal was about to leave, when, finally, the hoped-for summons came. The governor greeted Cal warmly, apologized for the mud splattering, and thanked him for his role in bringing to justice a criminal long sought by the police. After a period o f chit-chat, Cal was dismissed with an invitation to drop in again, any time he was back in the area.

Grandpa's View on African Americans
Grandpa always boasted that he was on the same track team at Ohio State that Jesse Owens was on. Grandpa said that in those days when the track team went into a restaurant that said that they didn't serve blacks, the whole team would walk out. This showed a lot of character for a team of the late 1920's and early 1930's. Grandpa always used the "N" word to describe blacks, but he clearly wasn't a racist. When blacks started moving into his neighborhood in the 1970's, several of his neighbors were frightened and moved out. Grandpa was accepting and fairly comfortable having black neighbors. Maybe it was the ethnic diversity of the Bronx that allowed him to accept other people. Maybe it was just a kind soul under the outer shell.

2 Under Par
One of my favorite stories that Grandpa used to tell was of how one day he put his golf game together and was shooting an incredible 2 under par for the course heading onto the 18^{th tee. Shooting under par is quite an accomplishment for an average golfer, and may never be attained in a duffer's career. Grandpa never really talked about the scores that he shot, but I gather that since he didn't, they must not have been all that remarkable. But that's what makes this story so great. Here was a man having the best round of his life, with all the confidence in the world, ready to finish off the course and head back to the clubhouse feeling that he had actually accomplished something great in this world. Grandpa kind of reminded me of Willie Loman in Death of a Salesman" - a man who had to work hard for his breaks in the world. Anyway, as Grandpa approached the 18th tee and set his ball up to get ready to hit, he looked out into the fairway and saw in the distance a man mowing the fairway, preventing him from hitting the ball! This must have been in the days where a 20 foot wide motorized lawn mower didn't exist, and the process of mowing a fairway by pushing a mechanical rolling mower was bound to take a long time. Grandpa yelled out to the man to move out of the way, but he didn't pay any attention. Grandpa got extremely mad and rushed back to the clubhouse to tell the manager. He couldn't find the manager, so he went to the clubhouse bar to try to find somebody. He told the bartender what happened, and the bartender just laughed and told him to have a seat and that the next two drinks would be on the house. Those drinks must have had a calming affect, because Grandpa never finished the round - the best round of his life.}

Grandpa's Day Trips to Florida
Grandpa always insisted that he took several business trips to Florida in the 1960s for signing and authorizing the pailroll of those that were testing the missiles from the Chrysler missile plant, where he was in charge of the payroll. Grandma always denied this, but Grandpa insisted with such certainty, that maybe it was true. He said that he would be flown down to Florida in the morning, and return in the evening, which is at least feasible. Grandpa went so far as to say that when his plane landed in Florida, he sometimes didn't even get off the plane! He signed some paperwork and then flew back home. He claimed that sometimes he didn't even tell Grandma about the trips and that is why she didn't know them. He said that Florida in those days was "all swamps."

Model of Efficiency
Grandpa used to brag often about his accounting position at Briggs and the Chrysler Missile Plant. He said that at Briggs, everyone thought he was hourly, but that he really was a salaried employee. He said that once he changed job positions something like 23 times in six months! Once his supervisor told him that he couldn't take a bathroom break, so in defiance he relieved himself on the floor. The thing he always used to talk about at the Chrysler missile plant was how he once streamlined the accounting system so much, that he compacted 50 pages worth of information onto a 1 sheet form!

Golfing
Grandpa used to golf at Chandler Park golf course. He said that whenever he used to golf with anyone, he would never let them take a "gimme." A gimme is where a golfer is close enough to the hole that the other players usually don't make him putt the ball in the hole, and say, "take a gimme." Grandpa said that he wouldn't even give his boss a gimme. One day while golfing, Grandpa felt pains in his chest, and decided that he better quit. Instead of going home, though, he stopped at the clubhouse and had a "double" shot of whiskey, then he drove himself home, and went to the hospital to find out that he had had a major heart attack, which would have killed him except that his arteries were in good shape due to all of the running that he had done in his life time.

Legendary Substitute
Grandpa was a substitute teacher in the Detroit public school system after he retired from Chrysler. In fact, I can still remember him teaching as I grew up. He used to try to explain algebra and chemistry to Eric and I as I'm sure he tried to teach it in school. I get the feeling though that the students were never as interested as he thought they were, and unfortunately, this probably led to mostly babysitting assignments. He did have a reputation among school teachers, and was known as "super sub."

Grandpa the Pilot
This is a strange story only because, as my mom has done her family research on the Colloraffi family - she has found that many of the current generation of Collorafi men are PILOTS. Grandpa used to substitute teach in the same district that my aunt, his daughter Pat, taught in. For many years after he stopped teaching, people would come up to her and ask her if he was still "flying". Among the stories that he told students and staff, were flying adventures. No, grandpa was only a pilot in his imagination.

Grandpa's Trips Out West
In their retirement years, Grandma and Grandpa used to travel quite a bit out west. They went to Tombstone, Arizona (they brought me back a T-shirt that I proudly wore for one of my school pictures), through the mountains of Colorado, and to Las Vegas on several occasions. Grandpa scared Grandma to death with his crazy driving through the mountains of Colorado! Grandpa always said, "I love Las Vegas," and had the grin of a little child when he said it. I still can't understand what he liked so much out there, but he always talked about the "all you can eat" buffets for 99 cents. Strangely, two of his nephews are now living in Los Vegas, which is where grandpa always said that he wanted to live.

Money Back Guarantee
In the late 1970's, the Chrysler Corporation was having a very hard time winning customers. In order to sell more cars, Lee Iacocca (Chrysler's chairman in those days) made a 30 day money-back guarantee offer. If you didn't like your car, you could return it within 30 days "no questions asked." Grandpa bought a car around 1979 (I think it was a 1980 Dodge Aspen), and didn't like it because it didn't have air conditioning. Within 30 days, he returned the car and got another. Well, within 30 days, he wanted to return the new car, because it was not to his satisfaction either. Chrysler told him that he could only take advantage of the deal once. This was the type of fuel that Grandpa loved to feed his fire! He called everyone in the dealership to tell them off and try to get rid of the second car. He even tried calling Lee Iacocca personally, and claims to have gotten as far as his secretary. Still, he couldn't get them to take the car back. I think that was the last car Grandpa ever drove, a 1980 Dodge Aspen. Grandma still drives the car to this day, at age 86! It has 17,000 miles on it and looks like new.

Don't Ask for Money
Grandpa used to be called occasionally to give money to Ohio State University. He would always "tell off" the caller, then hang up. He said that he felt bad for once telling off a poor girl who called him. They would send him alumni association" member stickers, which he would keep, but I don't think he ever gave a penny to his alma mater. After receiving several calls, Grandpa thought it was high time to end the solicitation, so he wrote a letter to the school, telling them off, and hoping that they would stop bothering him. Grandpa received a response letter back from Ohio State that apparently told HIM off. He called the letter a "Doozy." Grandpa always laughed at that and said on more than one occasion, "I should have kept that letter!"

Grandpa on Woody Hayes
Grandpa loved Ohio State football, especially when Woody Hayes was the coach. Woody Hayes was very much like Grandpa - he had a firey temper. He eventually had to leave coaching when he punched an opposing player after he made a long run and happened to run out of bounds right in front of him. Grandpa never liked Ohio State as much after Hayes left coaching. Grandpa read a book on Hayes, and loved to relay the story about how Hayes once was on the bus going from Ann Arbor to Columbus after a Michigan-Ohio State football game, and the bus was running out of gas. Hayes insisted on not filling up with gas in Michigan, and the bus coasted to the Ohio border on fumes and filled up there.

A Trip to Disney World
Grandma and Grandpa went to Disney World in Orlando a couple of times. They have an old Super 8 film of one of their first trips, just after it opened. Grandma and Grandpa last came to Orlando in 1988, just after Eric and Robert moved there. They stayed at the Contemporary Hotel, and even rented a car to drive to Kennedy Space Center. Grandma said that once Grandpa did a complete 360 spinout on the Beeline expressway! The funniest thing that came out of the trip was that Grandma and Grandpa got in the line that they thought was to the train that made a leisurely run around the Magic Kingdom. What they didn't know is that they were actually in the line for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad - a semi-tame roller coaster, but one that would frighten senior citizens pretty terribly. Anyway, they indeed got on the roller coaster instead of the train, and Grandma said later, "they should outlaw that thing!"

Grandpa and Science
Grandpa loved science, and always was curious about computers. He always used to say that he liked "analog" computers better than "digital" ones, though I was never sure if he really understood the difference. Grandpa always said that he wanted to learn how to program computers. Eric remembers that he said that he had some theories on cancer that he wanted to explore.

Grandpa and his Dogs
Grandpa always loved walking his dogs. From Buffy, to Piper, to Bonnie, and Ashley, dogs were always a part of his life. The dogs would usually be in the back yard when we arrived, but then they would be let loose into the house, and were running wild all over the place.

Grandpa and the Mayor
Grandpa hated the mayor of Detroit, Coleman Young. He always said how he wanted to move out of the city, "but Mom (Grandma) won't let me." When asked where all of his taxes go, he would say, "where do you think it goes - straight into the Mayor's pocket."

In With the Comet, Out With the Comet
Grandpa was convinced in his latter years that he would die in 1986, the year that Halley's Comet returned to the Earth after 76 years adrift in space. He got this notion from Samuel Clemens (a.k.a. Mark Twain), whose birth in 1835 and death in 1910 (both years of the comet's approach to the Earth) set the model for such a phenomena. Since Grandpa was born in 1910, he figured his life would burn out in 1986. I remember in 1985 this becoming an issue. He also always said, "You know, I don't give a damn if I kick the bucket tomorrow. I came in with the comet, and I'll go out with the comet." I think Grandpa would have liked to die in 1986, but he still had too much to give to this world to have it happen then. He never said anything again about Halley's Comet after 1986 came and went.

Grandpa's Favorite Expressions
Here are some of Grandpa's Favorite Expressions:

· "You're so cute!""(while pinching the cheeks of a young grandchild or great-grandchild)
· "Mom!""(while becoming stuck on a train of thought and trying to get Grandma to lend some information)
· "To tell you the truth…" (when starting an unbelievable story)
· "You might think I'm B.S.ing you, but" (when starting an even more unbelievable story)
· "I don't give a damn if I kick the bucket tomorrow" (when reflecting on a full life)
· "It was a … uh … whatchamacallit" (when he couldn't remember the name of something)
· "The God damn (insert noun here)" (when talking about just about anything, except in front of Grandma)