Another Restoration

I wrote so lovingly of my maternal grandmother Angela, and I feel fairness bids me to speak of her husband, Louis, my grandfather and one of the men most close to my heart.

A working man who spent years carrying boxes to load onto a delivery truck, Louis was the man who came home every night to eat the dinner Grandma had cooked because I liked it -- and he never complained. Quiet at times, highly introverted, this man shared his one interest with me. He was a baseball fan, a Cub fan actually, and we talked about them. Talked and talked about them. Listened on the radio and watched a bit on WGN. And in 1956, 1957 and 1958 he took me to Wrigley Field for eight games, memories I will always treasure. I assumed of course that he had seen the Cub pennant winners of the 30s and 40s. I found out in 1974 after he passed away that his love of baseball had been on the radio, never in the park. Never, until I wanted to go. That fact, more than anything else, remains with me nearly 35 years after his passing.

Louis loved Chicago, seen in the photo near Navy Pier, visible in the background. His willingness to be interested in what I loved, his willingness to take me to games I wanted to see, and his willingness to learn new things in a strange new world will keep him alive in my heart forever. And as I look back at the way Louis & Angela remain fresh and alive in my heart because of their unconditional love for me, I know they both taught me how to act in my most important role: they taught me how to be Poppa for my dear grandchildren. As such, they now touch the fourth generation in their posterity, and if I do this correctly, someday Louis & Angela will be touching the sixth generation. Who could ask for a better life than that?