Warning: non technical post.
My grandfather slipped away today. We knew it was coming, and so I took the chance to fly to Maine to get one last chance with him. I had some thoughts about him and people that I want to share, especially about how lucky we both are.
He was 95. He grew up in SF, and watched the Golden Gate bridge being built from his dad's office in the Standard Oil building (225 Bush St). That building is still there. He moved to Palo Alto, and then was shipped off to WWII.
He was smart enough to join up rather than get drafted, and as such got to pick his service. He joined the Navy, and was immediately sent to Antioch college for communications training. He spent the majority of the war there, and then at Columbia for more training. By July 1945 he was done, and sent back to San Francisco to deploy. While on the boat in early September, the bomb on Hiroshima was dropped, and was the effective end of the war in the Pacific. As a result, while my grandfather Justin (whom I called Grampy, but went by Jup) was never in any notable danger, but gained all the veterans benefits of being deployed in a combat theater.
After the war, Grampy spent years in Palo Alto, CA. 10 years again we found the house he bought and raised my dad in - its still in the Palto, and is now the guest house for a family that lives in a larger house on the property. They were also kind enough to allow three random people to tour it. While there he worked for Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard in their garage building oscilloscopes for a business he was certain to fail. Dave Packard regularly came over for drinks, as my aunt recalls. To this day, every generation of my family has worked at HP for at least some time, including me.
Grampy moved to Maine, and lived a very long life in Brunswick, ME (home of Bowdoin College, my alma mater) and Augusta. He had 3 wives, all of whom he outlived, but loved each differently. He was a New Englander through and through, and loved the Patriots and Red Sox.
In his last days, he was taken of all of the medications that he disliked so much, and was brought to the hospice facility near Augusta, ME (the oldest VA hospital in the country). I cannot express how kind and helpful these nurses were. I was able to get on a last minute flight and made it to see him, express my love, and see him in his final wakeful moments. To the end he remained generous and kind, even when confused about what was happening. He'd always expressed his desire and support for death with dignity (like the Hemlock Society), and so we knew what he wanted, which was to pass with his wits about him as his body failed.
In some of his final words, his New Englander came on strong. He was asked what he thought about the Red Sox this year, and in a flash of clarity replied, "Did they lose again? Figures." And passed out :). It was probably the best thing I could hear him say, as it said so much about his history, his love of the Northeast, his dry sense of humor. He later asked about my wife and daughters in the moments before I had to leave to go home.
There's so much fortune and luck here.
- Grampy was privileged and fortunate to have grown up with his dad (Winslow) in a stable, well paying job to provide for his education.
- Grampy was lucky to have entered WWII the way he did, and even more fortunate to come out the way he did, with the support and backing of the Federal Government.
- Grampy was fortunate to live down the street from Bill and Dave, and to work with them in something that would become incredible.
- Grampy (and me, and my dad) were forunate to find so many people in SF and Palto willing to indulge our curiosity about his history and past.
- Grampy is very foruntate to have the support and nurses he had at the end, who were so kind (shout out the Auguta, ME Togas VA Hospice).
- I am very privileged to have the funds, work and family support to drop everything in my life to visit him.
Lastly, I am privileged, fortunate, honored and grateful for Grampy's strong presence in my life.