Grandparents Going Through Tough Times?

CleverUserName
Tue, 23 May 2006 15:20:23 +0000

My maternal grandfather was a member of the Amish church. When he was young (early teens), his father divorced his mother, so they were “shunned” (basically excommunicated) from the church. They joined a Mennonite church nearby, but were never really welcomed into the church and life in the small community was hard for them because of the attitudes of some of the neighbors. So, during my grandfather’s junior year of HS, he altered his birth certificate and joined the army. The Mennonite church are strict pacifists, so he was officially shunned from the Mennonite church as well. I didn’t know this until after my grandfather passed away, but I wish I could have had the chance to talk to him about what life was like in the Amish community.

All my other grandparents lived in Oklahoma and their families are from Oklahoma. It is really interesting to hear my grandmother (maternal) tell about how she, as an Indian child (Native American, not Indian) was treated in a white community and what life was like during the depression and Dust Bowl, which continued to affect the lives of people in Southwestern Oklahoma for many years after it was officially “over.” Her father died when she was 13, leaving her and her mother to support the rest of the family. She has told me often about picking cotton (which she started to do for money as soon as she could walk) and what it was like to help support her three younger siblings when she was so young. Ironically, despite having to work, she is the only one of my four grandparents to complete high school.

I love hearing from my grandparents what life was like. Once you look past the “when I was your age…” lectures, it is really cool to hear about thier experiences and how they were shaped by them.