This is the only picture I have of my maternal grandfather. Yes, that's me on the left. :-) I was 7, he was 67.
I wish I knew more about Bob Reinning. I can tell you that he was an ironworker and that he helped build Disney World in Orlando, Florida. He lived the ironworker role to the hilt. He was a hard-drinking, cussing, ornery old son-of-a-bitch, and I only say that because he would have taken it as a compliment.
His pet name for me was "Pollack", for reasons that are none of your damned business. ;-) He smoked Camels and wore Old Spice. He shaved with a blade and used Bryllcreem. He drank Early Times whiskey and lots of it, which contributed to his early death at age 69.
I always tell the same story about Grandpa, because I claim it tells you everything you really need to know about him. He was hospitalized not long before he died. At "lights out", the nurse came to put the sides up on his hospital bed. He said, "what the hell are you doing?" She said, "Mr. Reinning, hospital safety rules require us to put the sides up on your bed at night." He said, "Listen here, god damn it. I was a goddamned ironworker for fifty goddamned years. I used to take a goddamned catnap on a goddamned I-beam sixty stories in the goddamned air. I never fell off that son-of-a-bitch, and I sure as hell ain't falling out of this goddamned bed. Bring me a release, and I'll sign the goddamned thing."
They did, and he did, and the sides stayed down on his bed. :-)
He also enjoyed telling the joke about the ironworker's son who was misbehaving while Dad was off working. Finally, Mom had had enough, and she said, "Young man, you march right into that backyard and cut me a switch." To which the lad replied, "Sorry, toots--that's the goddamned electrician's job."
I'm tall and skinny like my Grandpa, although not as tall, and these days, not as skinny. ;-) One of my most prized possessions is a tie clip that belonged to him. It's the only heirloom that I have that was handed down to me from one of my male ancestors, and I reckon that kind of thing is important to a man. The really cool thing is that you tend to wear a tie on the important occasions in your life, so a piece of Grandpa has always been there with me. I will wear the tie clip to my wedding, natch. =)
There's also a story behind the large GMC motor home in the background, a story too long to go into here. Suffice it to say that it was in this motor home that I first arrived in Sweetwater, Tennessee, on February 14, 1976, and that I lived in it for ten months thereafter.
Grandpa died on July 3, 1977, in Canon City, Colorado.
This photo was taken in Casselberry, Florida, in 1975.
Site maintained by:
�1995-2004 by AVATAR netWORKS! All rights reserved.