Grandpa passed away the day after my 20th birthday at age eighty-four. A year later I talked my parents and Grandma B. into taking me to Kansas so I could see where Grandpa was born and raised. Relatives helped us find his childhood farm. The two story house was bigger than I had imagined. But, in retrospect, he had eleven brothers and sisters, so they obviously needed the space! Grandpa was #10 child and his twin sister #11. The farm, although abandoned, was very pretty with rolling hills and stone fences. I wasn’t into the junk scene all those years ago, but my mother was smart enough to take an old light fixture from the house. I’ve ALWAYS regretted not taking a keepsake from that house!
Fast forward to Junk Fest 2009. Two of my aunts from Ray decided to attend for the first time ever! As my aunt Connie looked at our merchandise, something jogged her memory. She remembered the old staircase banister post she had taken out of Grandpa B.'s childhood home about thirty years ago... Last weekend while in Ray celebrating my dad’s 80th birthday, aunt Connie pulled out the old post and gave it to me! She had never done anything with it after she and my uncle returned from their trip to Kansas and it had sat in a Quonset at their farm all these years. How lucky am I to have a wonderful part of my Grandpa’s childhood home?! I am just thrilled!
Fast forward to Junk Fest 2009. Two of my aunts from Ray decided to attend for the first time ever! As my aunt Connie looked at our merchandise, something jogged her memory. She remembered the old staircase banister post she had taken out of Grandpa B.'s childhood home about thirty years ago... Last weekend while in Ray celebrating my dad’s 80th birthday, aunt Connie pulled out the old post and gave it to me! She had never done anything with it after she and my uncle returned from their trip to Kansas and it had sat in a Quonset at their farm all these years. How lucky am I to have a wonderful part of my Grandpa’s childhood home?! I am just thrilled!
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