In Memory of Our Dear Bampa
Hi, I am JaNae Reid, Paul’s oldest grandchild. I have the privilege of giving a talk on what it was like having Paul as a Grandpa. Just because I am the oldest however, doesn’t mean that I am the only one who knows what it was like having such an amazing man as a Grandfather, or as I liked to call him “Bampa.” Through the years I have shared a lot of wonderful experiences with my grandfather, and I would like to share some of them with you today. With the help of my cousins, and with a little help from others, I have compiled a list that even though may seem long on paper… in reality, it isn’t even close to long enough. I can guarantee that we will have missed something and think “how on earth could we have possibly missed that?!?!” For example: A few nights ago, as I had been thinking about memories my sister pipes up and says “JaNae! Pitching pennies!” both my brother and I were completely dumbfounded that it wasn’t the first thing that came to mind. As I go through and share some memories and phrases I hope to bring back, share and maybe explain some memories, of this man whom we all loved so very much.
Grandpa was always the candy man. From the time that I was little he always had candy. What started out as “pock”… butterscotch lifesavers in his pocket… turned into a candy box, then a candy bucket, then a candy cupboard, however, we all knew that the best candy was on his side of the bed in the last drawer of the bedside table. You always wanted to make sure you were sitting next to Grandpa in church because his suit coat was always filled with hot tamales, Jordan almonds, or root beer barrels. In preparing this talk, I also learned that each one of the younger grandkids had a way of convincing Grandpa to go to the candy store. Most of them said “going to the candy store” was a favorite memory.
More favorite memories of Grandpa that most of the Grandkids shared in common seemed to be when he would come up behind you and pop out his teeth and growl right in your ear when you least expected it, it about scared you right out of your britches! Since the last few years of his life was spent laying in bed he spent a lot of time watching TV all the grandkids shared in common the memory of him saying “Crawl up here and watch this show with me.” I remember countless naps I have taken watching TV next to my Grandpa. Anytime I was having a bad day, I knew right where to find him and I knew I had a safe haven from the world right next to him. Needing the first and biggest hug, is something that hasn’t changed over the years, he would always say “you may not need these hugs but this grandpa does” or “You may not need ‘em, but this old man sure does,”
I could go on for hours just explaining each one of the memories that covered more than 3 pages, I only have roughly 10 minutes so I am going to just move to bullet points, of memories or phrases that all of us Grandkids could think of off the top of our heads, some of them are personal, some are more broad and apply to all of the Grandkids and maybe to some of you.
My Bampa had many phrases some of which were funny, others sentimental, and others that were just good advice. Some of those phrases are:
· “It ain’t easy”
· “Atta boy, Girl”
· “Alriiiight”
· “Ahhhh….” After drinking Pepsi
· “It’s snowing on my truck!”
· “Good day or bad day?”
· “pick yourself up by your boot straps and put one foot in front of the other”
· “Lookin Good”
· “Always stay pretty,”
· “I love you the most…ask Grandma.”
· “Oh my hell, get your bloomers on”
· “Love ya Darlin”
· “Don’t tell Grandma!”
· “Hello down there”
· “I get the first and biggest hug…” “I still get the biggest hug…” “that wasn’t the biggest hug”
· “I love you the most”
· “get out of my chair, and then get on my lap”,
· “Is everybody happy?? Well I should say!”
· “giddy up and go”
· “Do you want the good kind or the bad kind”
· “Off like a herd of rusty turtles”
Some of those phrases may or may not mean anything to you, but if you ask anyone of the Grandkids, they will know exactly what you are talking about.
Oh, how I wish that I had more time and that I could talk on every memory, Since I can’t, I’m just going to rattle off some off and maybe stop to explain the ones that most people in here wouldn’t understand. Just a fair warning it might get pretty complicated, because some experiences are shared in first person, others in third person, keep in mind that when I say “me or my” from now on it could mean anyone of the grandkids, not just me as the speaker.
· Camping
o making perfect roasted marshmallows for grandpa
o When he asked you to go get a fire poking stick
o letting us ride in the back of the truck
o Teaching me to shoot a gun. – told me to shoot as fast as possible
o Riding 4 wheelers
o Hunting in Wyoming
o Driving the truck while grandpa told stories about his childhood
· Root Beer floats and Jazz games: When I was younger every time the Jazz would play we knew that at half time, Grandpa would bring vanilla ice cream and rootbeer (sometimes coke or pepsi) and we would have rootbeer floats for half time.
· Grandpa always loving to have his back scratched
· The way he would tease
o Anytime you were trying to get ready for the day he would come by the bathroom and turn off the light. I don’t think he ever missed a chance to turn off the bathroom light when he walked past.
o When he would say something and then end by saying “don’t tell Grandma” which of course was always followed by us telling Grandma in fits of laughter.
o Any kind of shot was so very painful… ouch…. Ewwww… owwwww….
o Him dumping ice water on us while we were in the shower
o When he would chase you around the house in his jazzy chair
o His hands when he threw them up in the air when he said “get your bloomers on”: To explain that a little more… since he has a whole bunch of Granddaughters, anytime they would run around the house either stark naked or just with a towel around them he would throw his hands up and proceed to either say “Get your bloomers on!” or the more funny one “Oh my Hell, get your bloomers (britches) on!”
o Him putting Grams purse or whatever she was looking for in the place she had already looked for it, and then proceeds to say “It’s right here! Didn’t you look??”
o The little wink he gave you when only you knew he was being mischievous
· My Grandpa was always a very wise, patient, respectful, kind hearted man. This is what we had to say about that.
o He had the patience that I don’t think anyone could match
o Grandpa always having the last word, even if it was him getting up and walking out of the room… you knew you pushed it too far then.
o If you wanted sympathy you would go to Gram, advice you would go to Bampa
o He was always so proud of how well I was doing in school
o He always made sure none of the girls were carrying anything if his hands were empty, even when he was in the most extreme kind of pain
o Laying in bed with him he would let me pick the TV channel
o He knew how to care for a lady and he had respect for everyone
o Taking us wherever we needed to go, he never said no, it was always “Be right there!”
o He was always on your side. Grandpa always had your back---Unless it was going against grandma
o Never missing a ball game, a performance
o Anytime someone would figure out that I was related to Paul Reid I would get a “You are so lucky! He is the best man I have ever met!”
o When I won the girls at wrestling he told me they won’t want to play if you don’t let them win every once in a while
· Grandpa loved pennies… I don’t know if he really did or it was just something he did but pennies were his thing.
o We had a big huge jar of pennies that every time we found a penny we would stick in the penny jar and once it was full we were going to Disneyland! I still think that we are working on that penny jar.
o Pitching pennies… this is one that I know I will have to explain. In my grandparents kitchen there is a big wall about 6 feet long and you would stand about 6 feet back against the stove and everyone had a handful a pennies, you would toss your penny and whoever got the closest to the wall got to have everyone else’s pennies. The goal was to have the most pennies. That is where the phrase “I kissed the wall!” or “come on… kiss the wall” came from.
o Grandpa had this magic trick that went something like this: “Rub it, Shake it, throw it, catch it, throw it, catch it, turn around, shake your bum, and catch it again, and where’d it go?” and he would find it behind your ears or wherever else he decided to find it.
· We each have our own dear memories that were personal to each one of us. Although, I can’t share all I will share some,
o On one of the many birthday parties we had Grandpa picked a daisy and picked each petal off one by one saying “she loves me, she loves me not” in reference to Grandma… According to the daisy, Grandma loved him.
o One time when we were sleeping over at Grandma’s house we were all being loud and Grandpa came in and said “be quiet or the werewolves will get you!” we were still being loud so he snuck into the kitchen and growled and scared us all… we were quiet for just a minute, then started laughing and talking again.
o Anytime I would pick a fight or more like tease someone else, I went running to Grandpa to protect me, sometimes he would protect me by covering me up in the covers… other times he would rat me out.
o Anytime our parents would make tell us it’s time to go he would hide us from them.
o Him and his kung fu!
o Breaking my arm tumbling over stuff: He would tell me to tumble over a coat… then a box… then a shoe… eventually it turned into a jump and roll… and ended with a broken arm.
o Always cheering for the same Superbowl team
o Always cheering for the wrong Superbowl team
o Picking me up from school, swim team, dance, where ever I was
o Spending my sophomore year eating lunch with him almost every day
o Playing slap jack on the bed
o Taking pills together when we were sick
o How much he loved our dog Koda
o Watching cowboy movies
o Who loves Grandma the most fights
o Sleeping with him in bed
o Grandpa calling Grandma Larry
o Grandpa calling Grandma “that grandma lady”
o Doing Grandpa’s hair
o Giving me a walkie talkie when I was downstairs sick, so he could check on me when he was upstairs.
o Rides on power chair (Jazzy)
o How he loved pepsi
o Always so much fun even when he was in pain
o When we would do homework with him he would give us the answers
o When he laughed his eyes sparkled
o Driving to different vacation spots laughing and talking through the walkie talkie
o Countless birthday parties
o When he would karate chop the twin popsicles to break them
o Eating peanut butter and jelly toast
The list could go on and on forever and still not be long enough. We have all been very blessed to have such a wonderful man as a Grandfather. I told my Dad that I told my Grandpa that when he gets up to Heaven he needs to find me someone to marry that was as good of a guy as he was. My dad proceeded to tell me that “I must never want to get married because no one will ever be as good of a guy as he was” He will be forever missed, but his legacy will live on. He has impacted us in the deepest ways and there is a hole that I fear will never be able to be filled. I love you Bampa, thank you for giving me such a great childhood and life. I could never begin to even think about tipping the iceberg in repaying you for what you have done for me. And while we may not love you the most (since you proved that you loved us the most) I will dare say that we miss you the most.
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