Grandad

I first met John Neighoff at Tuesday Night dinner back when Kate and I were dating.  I had been told all about him how even though he was in his late 80's he was still full of life, riding his motorcycle, golfing, flirting with the ladies at the bank and other things one wouldn't expect someone of his age to still be doing.  He sounded a lot like my grandfather Bump and I told Linda that he even in his late 80's he was still working at the golf course, playing a round every day, cutting his own firewood and other things one wouldn't expect someone of his age to still be doing.

Turns out they golfed at the same golf course and Grandad knew my Gram-Gram and Bump and spoke highly of both of them.  Once Grandad arrived Kate introduced us and he gave me an unexpectedly firm handshake and said something along the lines "So you're dating my Katie?" like I was doing something wrong.  I later learned that Grandad is very fond of his girls, not that he doesn't care for his boys, but the girls edge them out just a bit.

At dinner Linda told Grandad that I was Raymond's grandson.  I the mention of Bump's name his face light up, he got bright eyed and I was good as gold in his eyes from them on.  He then proceeded to tell me a story, one that he has since told me many times and I'm going to share it here.

"You know how I met your Grandfather?  I was heading into the clubhouse at the golf course and he was heading out, I saw he was wearing a Navy ship hat so I asked him, did you buy that or did you earn that?  He said "I earned this son of a bitch!"  We've been friends ever since, I really like your Grandfather."

They truly were friends, they didn't know each other in the war but they were in a lot of the same places, probably at the same time.  At our reception I looked over at one point and they were sitting together talking to each other, I don't know what it was about but they were laughing and having a good time.  I snapped a couple photos capturing the moment.

When Bump got sick Grandad asked me about him all the time.  When Bump died, after I left Gram's I wasn't sure what to do with myself but I knew that I had to go and tell Grandad in person because I just did.

When I arrived at his trailer my stomach jumped into my throat.  His car door and trunk were open, the lawnmower was sitting out in the middle of a half mowed lawn and the front door to his home was wide open.  I thought to myself "If I find Grandad laying on the ground or on the floor in his home I'm not going to be able to handle this."

I parked very cautiously looked around and called his name a couple times with no response.  I slowly walked up the stairs because I was dreading the worst and just didn't want that to be true.  I finally made it to his door and peered in and what I saw left me relieved and confused, he was sitting in his chair reading a book.

He was very happy to see me.  I asked him about his car and he said it started to rain so that's why he hadn't finished mowing the lawn.  I asked him about his car again and he said that's why he left his mower out.  So I just went outside and shut the trunk and door making sure the keys weren't left in it.

I told him about Bump, I started to cry, he started to cry, we talked a long time.  He thanked me for coming and telling him and said it was okay that we cried because Grandfathers are very special people and that Bump was very special man.  He gave me a big hug and told me that I should call him Grandad from now on, which I have.

My last visit with him we talked a lot about what he did in the war, the places he'd been and the things that he'd seen.  He told me about climbing to the peak of Mount Vesuvius and almost falling into the volcano.  A couple days later he was at a hospital visiting a friend, walking down a long hallway with a window at the end he was looking at Vesuvius when it suddenly erupted, March 18, 1944.

We had a really great conversation that day talking about coming home from the war, meeting his wife, moving to Maine, the gas stations he owned and more.

I only had the pleasure of knowing Grandad for a little over 3 years, but he, as well as the rest of Kate's family welcomed me and Canaan & Addison into their family like we had always been there.

Thanks Grandad