Day 4 - Grandpa's Glasses

Grandpa Marshall was a farmer. In his humble way, he'd probably say he was just a farmer. Grandpa could do anything! I hear that if he'd wanted he could've probably been a professional baseball player in his day, but the family and farm needed him, so he probably never considered it.

On a farm there is never enough time to get it all done. We generally irrigated with syphen tubes and they had to be moved from field to field and all set by hand. We were running 9 different farms at one time, so there was always plowing, disking, harrowing, planting, weeding, fertilizing, cutting, and harvesting to do. Grandpa, and my dad, could maintain all their equipment. The trucks and tractors never went to a mechanic. If grandpa didn't have the right tool, he'd often weld one himself. He was also a very trusted member of the farming community and was quite often the chosen judge to settle disputes between other farmers. They always knew Grandpa would be fair and honest.

In addition to his occupation, Grandpa had a beautiful singing voice, played the accordian and piano and was a master story teller. Nobody could tell the story of David and Goliath like my grandpa. I never could find the parts in the bible where it told about David's job being to keep the sheep off the highway and out of traffic, or the friction proof stones used to slay Goliath or the crown that was too big and kept making David turn his head toward Bathsheba when she was barefoot all over.

Grandpa was always faithful in his church service. He was the bishop when I was born. On the rare occasions I saw my grandpa relax, his favorite books really were the scriptures.

Grandpa's glasses were an old pair that he used in the shop 50 years ago to protect his eyes so he wouldn't damage his newer glasses. They remind me to see things through Grandpa's eyes. He reminds me of integrity, hard work, humor and peace. I love you, Grandpa.