So this is how I remember my grandpa Ed. He was actually my grandma’s second husband. I don’t remember my grandfather by blood. (That’s me standing next to him)
He always smoked a pipe and drank a mug of Wink with a large splash of vodka. Tobacco in his left chest pocket and a big cowboy belt buckle was his badge of honor. Oh and the CB radio. His handle was , Cowboy. I never understood the CB lingo when I was little. It just sounded like a far off transistor radio with men jabbering back and forth.
Cowboy was truly a one of a kind. He drove a maroon Pontiac with extra wide mirrors and a lisence plate that said, to no one’s surprise, Cowboy.
As I grew a bit older and turned into a teenager, I remember being a little embarrassed of some of the things he did. He Always wore a cowboy hat everywhere he went . Pipe smoking wasn’t too popular with me either. It seemed so “old-fashioned”. What would my friends say ! ? And he always addressed my grandma as , Momma. “Is dinner ready yet Momma?” Ugh!! How embarrassing ! He even threatened my boyfriend , now husband , whom he’d just met, to “get in there and wrestle Pammy’s brothers”! WTF! That was a Hilarious moment now looking back!
As he grew older he never ever changed. I’ve come to respect that . My grandma loved him dearly until the day he died. I was there in the hospital that day too. I got there before my mom and grandma could make it to the ICU. It was just like the movies . They had to shock his heart to regain rhythm. The nurses didn’t know I could see in the room. It failed and he died a few hours later. It was so sad . Especially to watch my grandma put her head down and weep. She loved him and he was gone.
I do miss him. I never appreciated him fully for who he was; just a simple man who knew who he was and what he liked. He was a true Cowboy 🙂
pammyj2468 