INTERNET GRANDFATHER®

Another Hero

                                        I've written before about my maternal grandmother. I mentioned her second husband. Because my real grandfather died so young, he was the man I knew as grandfather. I think about him a lot, especially these days. I think about his good nature and never-say-die spirit whenever my own spirits flag.

                                                  He left home in Pennsylvania when he was twelve years old, to pursue a trade. He became an apprentice barber in a time when there was a rigid apprentice-journeyman system. He worked his way across the country to Seattle, Washington and then down the west coast to San Francisco. In San Francisco, he went to work in a large shop where he was the last chair, 99th chair if my memory serves me correctly. (In those days, barbers' chairs in the shop were determined by seniority. In the 1950's, I accompanied him to visit the large shop. It was much smaller but the man who worked at the next chair to him had only just made it to first chair. Even to a child, it was a touching reunion.) During the flu epidemic of 1917, he moved to the small town where I grew up and eventually met and married my grandmother. He established a barber shop of his own. He always maintained a union shop but in his experience he, the master barber, was not required to be a member. When the union attempted to require him to join, he went non-union. It led to threats and a bombing of his shop. In the culture of small-town America at that time, the bombing led to a huge increase in business. In his later years, he worked harder and was more prosperous than ever. (The business was good enough that, after he died, my grandmother was able to maintain the business for several years, finally retiring in the early 1970's.) No matter what happened, he was always good-natured and he always tried to do his best, whether in his craft or in life generally.

                                                    I think of many things when I think of my grandfather and his life. I think about what it must have been like to be on his own at twelve. I wonder how many twelve-year old children of today could leave home and make a life on their own. I wonder how many people would resist the threats of a union in the 1950's. I wonder how many people could leave the excitement of a city to live happily in a small town. I wonder how many people would maintain their determination until old age. Most of all, I wonder how many people would continue trying to do their best for so long and in such changing and trying circumstances.

                                                    I believe that's the most important lesson I learned from my grandfather. I believe that to try to do one's best is the most important thing in life. I believe that if we all try to do our best at whatever we're doing we'll be happier, we'll make those around us happier and everyone will be better off. And, by the way, whatever we're doing, we can be cheerful and good-natured.

9-8-08