Gammy & Grandpap

 

The attached picture is of Mary Harriet Henry Mundrick, my grandmother, William Jacob Mundrick, my grandfather, the tall boy is Uncle Fred Mundrick, the tall girl is Aunt Sadie, the shorter lady is our Mother, Elsie Ann Mundrick Holdren and the boy on Grandpap's lap is Uncle Emerson. They had a younger boy, Mason, who died when he was about 5.

My grandparents on my Mother's side were special. I knew my Father's parents but not as well as I did my Mother's. Daddy's Father died when I was probably 5 or 6 and his Mother died a couple of years after that. They lived in Muncy so it was a ways to go to visit. I remember going to visit but was very young.

My Mother's parents were living in Cascade. This made it easy for us to pile in the car and go visit them of a Sunday. Not often, but enough that we remember it. Gammy would cook up a big meal and we all sat on the porch afterwards and talked. She and Grandpap always teased each other. They farmed the land around them in the old fashioned way. They grew corn and oats and I don't remember what else but I do remember them using an old fashioned schythe to cut the hay and oats. Plowing was done with a horse and one blade plow which they walked behind. Hard work!

I remember Grandpap telling how he and Uncle Fred had to walk to get to the CCC camps in Hillsgrove. It was before the Second World War started. When that started Uncle Fred got drafted and from what he told me the money he drew from that was a big help to his parents. They worked at the camps during the week and walked home on weekends. This must have been at least a 10 mile trek. They needed the money they earned there.

One time while walking home, Grandpap tells about a mountain lion that was in the path he was on and so Grandpap stopped and stood just as still as he could and waited and waited. Finally the mountain lion took off into the woods. That was a scary walk, I am sure.