Granddaddy

This picture is of my Granddaddy Vanzant in May 1962. Even though Granddaddy was paralyzed and used crutches to move around, he was a spitfire. My memories of him are filled with laughter. He was strong-willed and feisty.

He gave me a small piece of his chewing tobacco when I was maybe 5 years old admonishing me not to put it in my mouth. Of course, the first thing I did was pop it in. The next thing I did was throw up.

I remember when he and Grandmama were in town for my oldest brother's wedding. He was sitting out in his car talking to me when Grandmama called for him to come inside and put his tie on for the wedding. His reply was, "S%*t! I hate wearing ties!" I think it was one of the first times I'd heard cursing, but somehow it didn't seem particularly bad coming from him. He was feisty.

As for the video below, I also remember him being upset that people would speed like mad down the dirt road in front of their home. I don't know whether or not he ever called the police to patrol the area, but I do know that he dug a "trench" shallow enough not to be noticed but deep enough to definitely do some damage to a speeding car. More than one car hit that trench and slowed down. I don't think he had to fix it until one particular woman's car flew from that and hit an old oak tree on their property. She wasn't hurt, but her car...that was another story!


video via