What are/were your grandparents like?  

The only grandparent Ive known is my maternal grandmother. Next month she will be 94 years old. She has always been very active. While I was growing up she was in her 70's but she was still always out working in her garden or doing other chores around the house. Three years ago she moved into an Assisted Living home but she is still pretty independent. When I had my first son, my mom brought her up to the hospital and my mom told me that my grandmother told her, "I never thought I'd live to see the day that she graduated high school..but i did. Then I never thought I would live to see her be married..but I did. Then I never thought Id see her have a child, but now I have seen everything!" and had tears in her eyes! Even though my children are still small they love her so much! I know her time here is short and I'm going to be devastated when she is gone!

I only have one grandmother left, and she is my maternal grandmother. Everyone else passed away. So, I am very lucky to have her. She is very similar to me and my mother in looks, and somewhat in personality. She is the type that always like to have someone to talk to her and keep her company. Whenever we go to visit, she wants us just to sit beside her all day, even if we don't have nothing to say. Her husband, my maternal grandfather, passed away a couple years ago, from Alzheimers...so it was sad to see him go. But, he had been suffering for a long time. Then, my paternal grandmother died when I was very young, I had only spent a couple of months with her, in my entire life, and then she passed quite soon after. She was very fragile and tired. Then, there was my paternal grandfather, he died from lonliness, after my grandmother passed, and probably also, a sense of melancholia, afterwards. I remember them all quite well, but is hard to remember all the details that I had wanted to. I hope to find more family pictures, especially of my father's mother, because she was the first to go. I am trying to spend more time with my mom's mom, so that I will remember her more, when she passes. It is sad, to lose those that we love, but when it is their time, we have no choice.

I lost my 2 grandmothers very early in life. I barely rememer one of them. She died when I was 3 or 4. My grandpa, from my mom's side, passed on in 1966. He was good with woodworking, had model trains in the basement, was good at growing things, took us kids to Cedar Point way back in the late 1950's and was generally handy around the house.

My other grandfather died in 1994 at the age of 101. He came over from Poland in the early 1900's. He was always in good spirits and rarely sick. He made several trips to Poland to visit relatives. He would tell us kids stories about how the houses had no screens and there would be flies in the mashed potatoes. I never forgot that. He was good with growing gardens. He outlived most of his friends. He remained active in various groups well into his 90's. He could speak Polish and I never could understand it.

All my grandparents are deceased. My grandparents on my father's side I never knew because my parents divorced when I was very young. I started researching my family tree and found out some interesting things about them. And even though I never met them, I wouldn't have been able to remember much about them. Thru my family research, I have learned quite a bit.
My grandfather was one of 11 children. He is the only one who had more than 2 children. Most of his siblings (my great aunts and uncles) never married. He was born here in the US and even traveled back to his parents (my great parents) native land, Hungary.
My grandmother was born in the US also and had 5 siblings. She died very young of a heart attack shortly after my uncle (her son) died in a horrible car crash. The say she died of a broken heart.
My grandparents on my mother's side are the ones I remember most. My grandfather's parents were from Poland and he ad a lot of confortations growing up because the Italians would give him a hard time. My grandfather was a jack of all trades, he loved do everything. He was a carnie for many years before he married my grandfather. I remember sitting on his lap while he drew pictures of whatever we were watching on tv. He taught me how to play cards. I remember sitting with him for hours sorting his coin colections. He had a ton of pennies and albums to fill.
I spent a lot of time with my greandmother, She would make homemade cookies and candies. She loved cooking and baking. She never made plain pancakes either, She also made cookie cutter pancakes! She also made me a lot of costumes for Halloween. She loved making home made cards.
By the time I was 12 all my grandparents had passed away.

My mother's father died during the Holocaust in Poland somewhere. They were from Turkey, but moved to Germany when the Jewish pogroms were crossing from Russia in the 1930s. Bad timing - Adolf Hitler's regiume had begun and they were all sent to camps. The men (my grandfather and 2 uncles) to labor camps in Poland, and the women (my grandmother, mother and 3 aunts)in local German ones. The women survived, the men were never heard from again.

Oma stayed in Germany, waiting for her men who never came home. My mother and aunts soon became warbrides after the camps were saved by the Allies at the end of WWII. Oma visited us in the USA many times, but always went back to the pension (bed & breakfast) that she and Opa operated before the war and her since then. She died in Munich in 1978, while I was stationed in Germany with the Army and near her. We had already sold the pension the year before when she became frail, and she was set up in an apartment with nursing care until she died.

My father came from a broken home. His parents divorced while he was still a babe in arms. My grandmother became a true Flapper when freed from marriage in the 1920s and my religious Nana (her mother, died in 1962 from Dementia) raised my dad and his older sister in their shared home. Nana had been a domestic worker from Lithuania meeting her husband in Bremen, Germany. They had 4 children (my grandmother was the oldest daughter) and immigrated to the USA in 1896. They settled in Camden, NJ and Opa started a tavern around the corner from their home (he had been a brewer in Germany) working it until he died in a major flu epidemic in 1938. In the meantime, they had 3 more children. All totaled, Felix (died pnemonia at age 16), Isabell (my grandmother, died 1982 and the last surviving sibling), Zarah (called herself Sarah, died in 1960 from cancer), Georg (an engineer, helped build Ben Franklin Bridge in Philadelphia, died in 1957), Marta (named after Nana and firstborn in USA, died at age 5 from measles), Dieter (an chemist, died in 1966) and Julius (called Jules named after Opa; a building contractor, died in 1970 from liver cancer). Dad's father was an Italian immigrant who owned a major car mechanic garage in Philadelphia with his brothers. Dad was named after him (John), but was called Jack by Nana. Both my grandparents were flamboyant people and loved to party too much. Having kids simply ruined their marriage by trying to make them responsible (this is directly quoted from Grandmom). My father rarely saw his own father growing up, tho only a bridge (Uncle Georg's) separated them. I never met my real grandfather until I was 18 at my Aunt's house by accident between tours in Europe. He had remarried in the 1940s died in 1985.

My dad's step-father was Frank (died in 1977 of cancer) and the only 'grandfather' we kids knew. Grandmom remarried while my father was in the Navy during WWII so he didnt called him 'dad', just Frank. Grandpop (as we called him) loved football and basketball games on TV and I believed he fed the bookies a lot of his paycheck (he was a saloon bartender) as that's what Grandmom and him were always fighting whenever I approached their house for a visit (LOL). He loved eating peanuts watching TV and always offered them to us when we would come into his room. He alweays wore a tie and a nice shirt, even in his home. My favorite memory was that Dad always had the extra TV set up in a bedroom with a comfy chair so Grandpop had quiet and wouldnt miss the Thanksgiving game at our house after we ate every year. The other TV in the livingroom was for kids shows.

My Grandmom loved Bingo and took me to the games regularly when I became 16. However, since she died I could never attend another game. I lived with Grandmom and Grandpop when I left home at 15 until I graduated high school. Their social security wasnt much and my small paycheck from the 5 & dime helped out. Grandpop Frank died while I was in Germany in 1977 and my Grandmom died in my arms from results of cancer while I was visiting my parents' home in 1982.

related resources: nursing home care, home security

I never knew my paternal Grandmother. She died when my father was just 15 years old.

My paternal grandfather died right after we put our house up for sale. We never even had a chance to tell him we were moving. We found him dead in his bed about 4 days after he died back in 1988. The autopsy said he'd died of a stroke but because he was sleeping, he didn't feel anything and he didn't suffer. The strangest thing was the date and time they figured he'd died. According to my mom, he died on the same date and at the exact same time as his wife did so many years back. We like to think that she came to help him over to the other side.

My maternal Grandmother I didn't like very much. My granddad (her husband) got real ill, and had 3 strokes and a heart attack. He was paralyzed down his left side, and needed a lot of help. My grandmother couldn't handle it and so she had him put into an elderly persons home on a number of occasions to "Give her a break." He always ended up moving back home though. I didn't like the way she spoke to him, even as a young child it was upsetting to see this broken man, trying to hold back his tears as my grandmother berated him for one thing or another.

My Granddad died in 1991. He was in pain right up to his last breath and it was a blessing when he took his final breath and peacefully slipped away with his daughters and son by his side.

My Grandmother requested to go into an elderly persons home after her husband died. She was terribly lonely on her own. She died of a stroke in 2000. Nobody knew her much anymore at that point though. She'd been diagnosed with Slow dementia a year before, and her memory had almost completely gone. She's now with her husband again, and hopefully she's not constantly at him like she used to be in life. I like to think that my Granddad has the willpower to stand up to her now.

I wish I could remember better. My father's father died before I was born. My mother's mother died when I was around 7. Then my father's mother died when I was 11 and his step-father died almost exactly a year later. My maternal grandfather died when I was 14, that was the first funeral I ever went to. I remember him being fun. He once told me that if you brush your hair in the morning, you will feel more awake. I told this to my neice once, she didn't believe that "grammie's" father ever said that. I'm not too sure she really believed that grammie had a father! My niece never got to meet her grandfather (my dad) since he died about 14 months before she was born. Her maternal grandmother just passed this fall (she's 21 now.) I must say that when ever I meet someone that still has their grandparents in their 20's & 30's I tell them how lucky they are and to enjoy them and get to know them. Our elderly people are the recent history, and its dying out before our very eyes!!!

Right before my mom found out she was pregnant with her first child (ME!) my grandpa, her daddy died. I never met the guy.

My grandma, only living one, from my dads side is nice and all. But um its hard to explain but shes just like my dad and my uncle. She gets upset easily.

I love my grandpa, my dads father. He died in 2002. He drew cartoons for fun and some pay, and he had a wicked sense of humor. I miss him when I think about it. His death affected my dad a lot (he cried which he never does in front of us!).

My most beloved grandparent was my grandma who died last year. She died May 10th 2006. She would have been 93 in September of last year!

She was healthy and little. She stood at 5'5". She loved to go bowling and still drove her car at 90 yrs she did up till then. She didnt have tickets and no real accidents I knew of. She ate healthy little meals. We joked and teased her and called her a bird! I loved her laugh, her always playing games of solitare at night and doing crosswords. She loved to watch tv, soap operas and such. I loved her and I miss her TOO much.

When I was 1 yrs old my parents were hard up on money and she let them move in with her. She was living alone since my grandpa had died few years before. My grandma thought it was a temporary thing but we NEVER left. We tried all the time. My parents had two more kids my 2 sisters. My grandma was so close to us kids. She was like my mom plus. She wasnt my grandma but my second mother. She took care of us, she was ALWAYS there. Loosing her broke my heart.

In 2003 she found out she had cancer in her bladder. She was healthy as can be and she had cancer! It didnt get her down though and she lived as best she could. In the end it happened SO quickly. In April last year she was feeling sicker but we didnt know we'd loose her within a month of this happening. I MISS HER SO MUCH!

I know I will see all my grandparents in heaven. But I'll look forward most to my grandma S. the one I miss the most *sniff* *sniff* sorry I'm crying so I gotta stop :((

My mother was young when she go married. She didn't get to see the world yet, so I was mostly raised by my grandparents. They helped me out thru some hard times when I was growing up. When they passed away it took me along time to get over them and I think about them every day.

my grandpa is a good man but strict when it comes to his grandchildren. why? he wants us to learn the traditions filipinos have. it's kinda out of line but it really helps when realized all the things that he said to us when we were young. he died 5 years ago and i still miss him because my father said he never experienced the love I experienced with my grandpa... maybe it's because my dad left home in an early age while i stayed at my grandpa's care until i finished high school. i miss my grandpa... a man of few words but with wisdom that can move you to realize that he is right after all. i miss the times when he tickles me because i don't mind him and i'm busy doing things or playing. Rest in peace grandpa... I love you...