[LMB] Re: Step-grandpas

[Debra Cebulski]

Hello, all.

I had not one, but *two* step-grandfathers.  My mother's stepfather raised her as his own and even referred to her as his firstborn, even though she was the child of my grandmother's first husband.  Mom was not aware that she wasn't his biological daughter until she had to send away for her birth certificate.  She needed the birth certificate to get married and was shocked when she was told that there was no birth certificate filed under her name.  Grandmom informed her of her true maiden name, but it changed nothing - Pop Pop Kettyle was still Mom's dad.  I had an early interest in genalogy and Grandmom even told me that she'd lost two babies - one by her first husband and one by Pop Pop.  Pop Pop was a great person - he'd tell jokes, whistle, and take me out for rides in his truck.

When my mother remarried, I got another step-grandfather.  Pop Pop Wilson was a curmudgeon, and he lived with us for several years.  He would take me and my brother on nature hikes with him.  He was a Pearl Harbor veteran of the Navy and told me his stories of the war before he passed on two years ago.

I loved both my grandfathers dearly, and my life is richer because they were in it.

Deb Cebulski