Ambitions Of Grace

This post may not be of much interest to anyone other than family, friends, and coonhound enthusiast.  

This post is about my grandpa.    And unless you knew him, you can’t really get a grasp of the kind of person he was by simply reading this blog post.    However, I will try my best to give you a glimpse into a small part of his life.

My grandpa has been gone for several years.   I recently went through some of my grandma’s belongings that I had stored in my garage.   Inside of an old truck that grandma has kept long as I can remember, I found some never-before-seen pictures of my grandpa and some treasured keepsakes that I’m also sharing on this post.  

My grandpa was part of a special generation.   He lived very modestly.    I think because he grew up during the Depression.    He had no interest in material possessions.    As long a he had a pot of brown beans and some cornbread, life was good.   A dish of vanilla ice cream, meant that times were REALLY good.     When he was younger, he only stopped working long enough to watch the evening news.    He got everything done before it needed to be done.   He didn’t put anything off.      He was always in motion.     He never purchased tools that made getting the job done easier.    He split wood with a sledgehammer and wedge.    He hauled hay with a hay hook.    He used a push mower.    Having anything that wasn’t a necessity of life was considered extravagance to him.   Or at least that’s the way I interpreted his lack of “stuff”. 

I was so happy to find this picture in the truck.   I have NEVER  seen this picture before.    I don’t know anything about this photo except that he was already married to my grandma.   And that he looks young, healthy, and strong.   

Here’s a military photo I’ve never seen.    He served as a MP during the Korean War.    My grandpa always said that every  boy should serve in the military.   He said it made men out of boys.  

This is a scan from an original wedding photo that I found.   I have seen this photo before.   I’ve wondered about the contraption on my grandma’s head since I was a kid.

When I went through the items in grandma’s truck, I was especially fascinated by all the coonhound memorabilia.     My grandpa raised English Redtick Hounds when I was a kid.   I knew his hounds were popular, but I was just a kid so I didn’t understand HOW popular.   I just knew there was usually a litter of pups at my grandpa’s house that needed my attention.       (To my sisters….this is NOT Sue.   The back of the photo said this dogs name is Bess)

My grandpa’s favorite hound was Sue.   She raised over a hundred pups for him.    She is the dog on the right in the above photo.   Her puppies were used in hunts all over the United States.   I remember him shipping his pups from the airport many times.  

The man on the left wrote an article about my grandpa that was posted in a popular hunting magazine called the “Coonhound Bloodlines”.    There is a scanned copy of that article at the end of this post.    I wanted to share that article on my blog.   I wouldn’t want that article to be lost and never shared with my kids or my sister’s kids.    I believe Bob Hardison knew my grandpa well, because he described him so accurately in the article.     In the above photo, my grandpa’s dog Sue is on the right and her pup Tammy is  in the middle.    Tammy was very successful at competition hunts and dog shows.

My little sister, Penny with a few of grandpa’s hound pups.  

Grandma and Grandpa in California with a few of grandpa’s dogs.

I actually remember this moment.    We were on our way back from California.   I was either 14 or 15 at the time.   I think we were somewhere in Colorado.    Dad and Grandpa were admiring the mountains while taking the dogs for a walk.   This photo is of two of my favorite men of all time.    *tears*

I don’t know what state we were in.   Definitely somewhere between Oklahoma and California.   Sue is on the left and Tammy is on the right.   Dad must’ve taken the photo because everyone is in the photo except him.    I love this photo.  

Grandpa with a litter of his pups.  

He’s training a litter of pups with a coon hide.   I know this photo doesn’t look like much to most people… but to me this brings on a flood of great memories. 

This is grandpa and his sister.   She is the person we visited during our trip to California.   

I hope you are able to read this article..    I found it works better if you click on the article as opposed to trying to enlarge it.     I don’t want this keepsake to be lost or forgotten. 

  I hope my sisters and other family members have enjoyed these treasures from grandma’s truck.  

This is a scan of Sue’s pedigree papers.