Rainy and windy morning! Derf here!
Last week's blog was followed by an e-mail reply from sister Jean. She reminded me of another story about early television.
Dad grew up on a farm with four brothers and one sister (a couple of children were lost at birth or shortly thereafter). My Grandpa (Chester) and Grammy (Idelle) lived in the same home the rest of their time on this earth.
Early on in the television years Dad thought maybe it would be good to set up the farm with a television. I can't honestly say that Grandpa and Grammy were real receptive of the idea. Their attitude didn't faze Dad one bit. Not much did!!
As I recall it was late fall when we put up an antenna on a piece of one-inch galvanized pipe. I believe it was a twenty-one foot pole so it barely cleared the porch roof. The television was an Arvin console that had cabinet doors, etc. Quite fancy back then!
Well, it didn't take too long for my grandparents (especially Grandpa) to become enamored with TV. Grandpa really looked forward to Arthur Godfrey and his friends' show. I think it was on Wednesday evenings. (Arthur Godfrey also had a talent show. This show introduced the Blackwood Brothers Quartet and Patsy Cline. Eventually he had a daily show with his good old ukulele.)
A few weeks into the project Grandpa mentioned to Dad that perhaps we could move the antenna back a bit and run it up the side of the house a little higher. So by coupling another piece of galvanized pipe we raised the antenna to about forty feet and Boston channels came in quite a bit better. It was great to see my grandparents enjoy the fruits of our labors.
Occasionally we would watch Arthur Godfrey with the grandparents and spent most Sunday afternoons visiting with them. I must admit that I miss those days when family members spent time on the farm. Our family was fortunate that the grandparents were with us in Old Orchard Beach as Dad moved a small building to OOB for their summer home. More about the grandparents' cottage later.
As I grew older and watched Dad so involved with his parents, this was a lesson that I learned. I attempted to do as much for my parents as they grew older. I was taught well and hope I succeeded somewhat in watching out for my parents. What a lesson I learned from Dad with not only his parents but his care for my grandparents on my mom's side. You can see from this writing that Dad had a soft, generous side and was not always killing animals with baseball bats and coke bottles. Memories were made that will never leave our generation. That is good!!
RIP - Grandpa & Grammy, Mom & Dad! Thanks for the memories.
Until next time,
Toodle Pip! Derf!
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| Grammy Idelle and Grandpa Chester Gowen |
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