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In honor of Valentine’s Day, I want to tell my grandparents’ love story. My grandfather died at the age of 104 on April 17, 2023. He married my grandmother when they were young and, even though she passed away when he was still young, he never remarried. The only talk of his love life other than Gramma was when I visited for my 50th birthday (he was 98). He would talk about something, and I’d pull up pictures or an article on my iPad. At one point, he pointed at it. “Can you look up people on that thing?” Yes, Grampa, I can! “Could you look up my old girlfriend from when I was a teenager on it? I mean, I don’t want you to, but could you?… You could? Well, okay. I guess you could try.”
My cyberstalking of Grampa’s old girlfriend was fruitful. I gave him her address (in Nebraska) and told him that Friday would be her 95th birthday. “Hmmm,” he said. Later on he said, “I think I may send her a card. Wouldn’t that be something?” Then later, “Should I send her a card? Maybe I will!” (Clearly, I got my over-thinking abilities from this wonderful man.) Then later, “I don’t think I’m going to send her a card. I mean, what if she wants more? I’m just not ready for that.” And that was the end of the discussion of Grampa’s love life. Until I received the box.
A couple of weeks ago, my cousin moved out of the house she shared with him and my aunt, and she sent me a big box of his papers and random things. She easily could have kept these, but she knew how much they would mean to me. Inside are so many things of my grandmother’s. Cards, photos, letters, items. It’s no wonder he didn’t have space in his heart—this box filled it.
As I dig through the box and tell stories of the items I hadn’t seen before, I may share some of them here. The first one is the picture of my grandmother’s loupe and pins from her time as an engraver at Hewlett-Packard that were in the box. Also sharing some photos of her at HP.
Have you ever inherited a box of unexpected items? What did you do with it? I’m paying my daughter to scan, transcribe and categorize all of it.
Helpful Links
Events: https://www.californiaancestors.org/events-and-education/
Special Interest Groups: https://www.californiaancestors.org/special-interest-groups-for-members/
Calendar view: https://www.californiaancestors.org/cgs_calendar/
Tips & Talk: Oakland FamilySearch Center Family History Classes: https://www.familysearch.org/en/centers/oakland_california/classes
FEB
2026