remebering Grandfather Jimmy

Post by **joette** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 4:51 pm

I was at an interview today as I am considering joining the "Met" as a volunteer.One of the questions they asked was about my attitude to the Police.I answered that as I'd grown up next to a Police- house thought they were ordinary people warts & all.
It got me thinking about my Grandfather who was the neighbour of the Police House & how much he had shaped my life.
He was born in 1903 the youngest son & second youngest in a family of ten. His Father was orphaned at an early age & his Mother illigitemate although that was a closely guarded secret.
My Grandfather is always synonomous with his garden.He inherited this love from his Father it has passed me by but my Mother has green fingers. It was always his refuge from my Gran's nagging & if I dream of him it's always sitting on the seat which went around the Rowan tree in the garden,smoking & reading or doing the crossword.
His garden was always his first port of call in the morning on his return from work.His roses & caranations were his pride & joy whoo betide any pest which tried to rest there.He grew potatoes,radishes,lettuces,beetroots& much else.I loved to eat the radishes straight from the earth & Grandpa would explain about the cycle of growth.
Babcox's& Wilcox's was the mysterious place that Grandpa worked.I thought we owned it as so many of the family worked there-Grandpa's nephew ended up on the board.Grandpa was the nihgt shift foreman a very proud Boilermaker & whenever I see or hear that my heart leaps with pride. He alway said that Engineers were Boilermakers with their brains blown out!
I know he went to Clydebank High but it wasnt called that & was in another location,that he took his higher leaving Certificate & then with a brief wonderful interlude for him as a "Boy" riding around on a cart & looking after the horse,served his time at nearby Beardmores until the Depression hit.
He had already met his Peggy & they were "walking out ".Again a cart is involved.Granny Peggy's Mother had died & as her parents had been seperated & the family living apart my GGrandpa had rented a bigger house to bring them all together again.She spied my Grandpa as she was perched on top of the removal cart & was highly mortified as she was far from looking glamorous & had to explain why she was giving him the "dizzy" from what would have been a second date.
They married in due course had six children,lived through ill-health,the blitz & then the untimely death of my Granny at 50.
Four years later he married my Dads widowed Mother & so I grew up with this very close tie.
We lived with Grandpa for a time,we spent weekends, holidays with them.
My Grandpa was a quiet gentleman in all senses of the word.He kept a supply of Fox's mints beside his chair in the living room.He had industrial deafness but could hear a paper rustle if you tried to sneak a sweet.
He was always proud to push his childrens,grandchildrens prams.He would await nervously when any of his daughters/in-laws were in labour to hear that they had come safely through.
He had a dry wit which I can as an adult appreciate but found hard to understand as a child.He was tall imposing with a natural sense of authority & I loved going anywhere with him & so proud.
He built a bookshelf in the toilet for the family use & would disappear inside with a "I'm away to the reading room anybody need to go?"
He loved his family gatherings & his dream was to have an estate where all the Family could live together.He & my Mother had a special relationship & they took care of each other.I think he was a good Father-in-law as his Daughters-in-law all adored him.
He had a stoke at work & I remember him being brought home in an ambulance from the night-shift.He was nursed at home by my Mum mainly with help from her brothers & their wives.
Granny did what she always did & took to her bed.Eventually he went into a hospice & I rember visiting him there.He hated his dependance on others.This big,loving wonderful man died on his own & I can rember my Uncle Alex-the baby of the family,coming to bring the news to my Mum in the night & crying"We are orphans now"
I always dream about Grandpas thats where I was born in the back bedroom,I see him in the garden,I hear him crying after a wee dram about his big brother "the blood was running down his kilt" killed in action WW1.
What I rember most is the total love & safety I felt from him & a pride in who I was & that I came from "good solid stock".That he was no fool & yet could forgive a little girls naughtieness.How he always praised my culinary skills no matter how awful.
James Cooper Waddell I am proud to have known you & prouder still that I am "off" you.

delmarco · Post by **delmarco** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 5:03 pm

Such a beautiful story, and such a beautiful man! I have big crocodile tears!!!
Thank you for sharing that!

Regards,
Karen

AnnetteR · Post by **AnnetteR** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 6:44 pm

Joette

What a lovely, moving and beautiful memory you have to hold on to. The tears welled up in my eyes and rolled off my cheeks like a waterfall as I read it remembering those that have gone before me. As I was reading it I was listening to 'Somewhere over the rainbow' by Eva Cassidy - only recommended if you want a good cry.

Thank you so much for sharing it with us and proud of him you should be.

Annette R

STUARTDALGLEISH · Post by **STUARTDALGLEISH** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 3:45 pm

Great story,

I often wonder what it would be like to have sat down and said something like this to your parents/grandparents when they were alive...I bet there would be some real tears then and they would know just how much they are missed.

You don't know what you really have till it's gone

and

Rosie K · Post by **Rosie K** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 7:35 pm

Thankyou
for allowing us a wee peep into your past, a very loving and moving story,with beautiful memories that will never die.

(Duplicate post deleted TSAG Admin)