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My only remaining grandparent (or, as he frequently put it, my YOUNGEST grandfather) Popa Ted passed away today.
It was very sudden, and unexpected (at least by all of us who remain) and swift; he was found at the kitchen table of his little home, which my parents had built next door to theirs after my grandmother passed a few years ago.
My grandfather was born Roy K. Smith, the youngest of five; as a toddler he demanded to be called Ted and was so known for the rest of his life.
He served in the Navy for a short time. I don't know much about his service there except that he got a tattoo of an eagle and a snake. I was fascinated by it as a child and he told me that it was a "butterfly and worm" so I wouldn't be afraid of it. He told me stories about driving on corduroy roads in New Mexico, where he met and married my grandmother.
He went to university and obtained a degree, which I believe was in education? (He hated college so much that he refused to "make" his sons go, so neither my father or uncle have a degree.) I do know that he taught the very first driver's education class in Oklahoma, in the El Reno area. His first child (my father) was born in El Reno. They moved to Ada in 1955, around the time my uncle was born, and purchased a house on S. Broadway. If you would like to see it, it's the house with the brown lower story and white upper story and connected mother-in-law house.
After their two children were a bit older, my grandmother returned to work (as a realtor and then as an insurance agent, finally ending up owning her own insurance agency); my grandfather began to run a business at his home, repairing boat engines. He also worked on his cars and maintained an acre and a half of lawn flawlessly.
He was very much a solitary person and a homebody, but when my grandmother's mother was no longer able to care for herself, he and my grandmother made a home for her in the little house next to theirs, where she lived for several years. It was very soon after his mother-in-law moved next door that he boarded up the windows of his bedroom facing her house, and converted the window area into curio shelves, so that she wouldn't come tap on the windows early in the morning to get their attention. (The remaining windows to the bedroom were safely above some tall, prickly bushes.)
After my great-grandmother's passing in 1982 he had a few quiet years until my uncle and aunt moved to a house on the next street over. He put a gate in the back fence so that they could walk through the alley to visit. Around this time the city left a water leak unfixed which kept the yard soggy, so he dug a pond in the back yard next to the pecan tree and stocked it with a few carp.
He infrequently traveled to the hills of Arkansas on vacation, but more frequently visited his sons' homes, traveling always by the back roads rather than the interstates. He preferred to stay home, to the point that gas in his truck sometimes went stale, and he did grocery shopping about once a year (when my grandmother traveled on vacation without him, which was usually to see her family members).
After my grandmother passed in 2003, he was unable to keep up with the bills for the house they had shared, so my parents and he built a little 500 sq ft house next door to theirs. He moved in and began improving the surrounding area, completing several projects such as adding a scavenged-window glass wall to his carport for wind protection.
My grandfather attended my baptism last year, and at dinner afterwards told us all the story of when he was baptized at Fittstown in the river. He helped inspect my house and plan some of the repairs and upgrades.
My grandfather was terrified of the idea of having to stay in the hospital, so while I am sad that he's gone, I know that he would have certainly chosen to pass away at home rather than in the company of strangers.
It was very sudden, and unexpected (at least by all of us who remain) and swift; he was found at the kitchen table of his little home, which my parents had built next door to theirs after my grandmother passed a few years ago.
My grandfather was born Roy K. Smith, the youngest of five; as a toddler he demanded to be called Ted and was so known for the rest of his life.
He served in the Navy for a short time. I don't know much about his service there except that he got a tattoo of an eagle and a snake. I was fascinated by it as a child and he told me that it was a "butterfly and worm" so I wouldn't be afraid of it. He told me stories about driving on corduroy roads in New Mexico, where he met and married my grandmother.
He went to university and obtained a degree, which I believe was in education? (He hated college so much that he refused to "make" his sons go, so neither my father or uncle have a degree.) I do know that he taught the very first driver's education class in Oklahoma, in the El Reno area. His first child (my father) was born in El Reno. They moved to Ada in 1955, around the time my uncle was born, and purchased a house on S. Broadway. If you would like to see it, it's the house with the brown lower story and white upper story and connected mother-in-law house.
After their two children were a bit older, my grandmother returned to work (as a realtor and then as an insurance agent, finally ending up owning her own insurance agency); my grandfather began to run a business at his home, repairing boat engines. He also worked on his cars and maintained an acre and a half of lawn flawlessly.
He was very much a solitary person and a homebody, but when my grandmother's mother was no longer able to care for herself, he and my grandmother made a home for her in the little house next to theirs, where she lived for several years. It was very soon after his mother-in-law moved next door that he boarded up the windows of his bedroom facing her house, and converted the window area into curio shelves, so that she wouldn't come tap on the windows early in the morning to get their attention. (The remaining windows to the bedroom were safely above some tall, prickly bushes.)
After my great-grandmother's passing in 1982 he had a few quiet years until my uncle and aunt moved to a house on the next street over. He put a gate in the back fence so that they could walk through the alley to visit. Around this time the city left a water leak unfixed which kept the yard soggy, so he dug a pond in the back yard next to the pecan tree and stocked it with a few carp.
He infrequently traveled to the hills of Arkansas on vacation, but more frequently visited his sons' homes, traveling always by the back roads rather than the interstates. He preferred to stay home, to the point that gas in his truck sometimes went stale, and he did grocery shopping about once a year (when my grandmother traveled on vacation without him, which was usually to see her family members).
After my grandmother passed in 2003, he was unable to keep up with the bills for the house they had shared, so my parents and he built a little 500 sq ft house next door to theirs. He moved in and began improving the surrounding area, completing several projects such as adding a scavenged-window glass wall to his carport for wind protection.
My grandfather attended my baptism last year, and at dinner afterwards told us all the story of when he was baptized at Fittstown in the river. He helped inspect my house and plan some of the repairs and upgrades.
My grandfather was terrified of the idea of having to stay in the hospital, so while I am sad that he's gone, I know that he would have certainly chosen to pass away at home rather than in the company of strangers.
