My grandpa…

Today, March 21st, would have been my grandpa Fincher’s 90th birthday. He passed away in May of 1998 at the age of 78. I think lots of him and my grandma even to this day. I spent A LOT of time with them as kids. Many of my very early memories involve them. I learned so much from them and have many wonderful memories. Both of them were amazing people. Let me tell you about my grandpa, also known as “pa”.

He was born in England. His name was Dennis. He was the oldest of three children. His younger brother, Eric, passed away in the 70s. His sister, Betty, is still alive and living in England. I last saw her when I was 11 but I continued to write her letters every year up until a few years ago. On a side note, I want to start doing that again with her.  During World War II, he was sent over here to Canada  to train in the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. I remember him saying he arrived in Goderich by train in November and it was raining and muddy! He was stationed at Port Albert, not far from Goderich, where he learned to fix planes. Now, the story of him and my grandma deserves an entry all its own and I shall save that for another time. I will just say he met my grandma in Goderich and they were married in the fall of 1942. After this, my grandpa was sent back to England and was stationed in the south of England in Kent. My grandma went over as well, by convoy. I’ve always admired her for this (again, more in another entry!). My grandpa fixed planes during the war, such Tiger Moths. He never spoke much of the war but he did have a few stories he told us. Many were sad. He lost a lot of friends.

He remembered  trains of injured soldiers coming through the town where he was stationed. He also remembers all the bodies of the dead soldiers that were brought back. It was tough for him to talk about.  He remembered the siege at Normandy (D-Day) and the planes leaving the base he was stationed at. He said goodbye to his friends and they said “We’ll see you when this is over”. Many he never saw again. All of this was tough for him to talk about and I understand why now.

He had lots of happy stories as well, from his childhood growing up on the English countryside to all the times he spent with my grandma. One of the funniest stories he ever told was from when he was a kid. It involved a guy with a stutter who was trimming a hedge along the road side and a conversation that took place between said hedge trimmer and my great-grandfather (the subject matter was the road signs that had just been posted for a speed limit of 30 miles an hour). I won’t recite it here because it’s a story that needs to be vocalized (if you get what I mean). I’ve told it to Jeremy and he laughs. No one told it like my Pa though. I  can still hear his voice in my head telling me the story. I laugh every time I think of it!

He came back over to Canada in 1947. My grandma and dad had flown over first. My grandpa stayed in England to work to save up enough money to buy passage on a freighter. One of his first jobs in Canada was at Dominion Road Machinery, later Champion and finally, Volvo. The company has since closed up shop in Goderich. He was a painter. In 1956, he opened Fincher’s. The store is still open on the square in Goderich and is owned and operated by my uncle Tom.

I have many good memories with him. There was the time he brought apple wine when I was 8 or 9 and we had a drink together. I recently tried apple wine at Epcot Centre on our trip to Florida and the taste brought back the memory of when my grandpa and I tried the wine together. When he and my grandma looked after me, he’d let me stay up with them. One night, him and I were up quite late watching a Frank Sinatra concert together. To this day, Frank Sinatra is still one of my favourite singers. He taught me to fish. Pa and I spent a lot of time together in Florida and we would often get up early in the morning and go fishing together. We’d go back in the afternoon, often spending our time just sitting together. It wasn’t about catching the fish; for us, it was relaxing and a way we spent time together. I remember us going fishing a lot more in Florida after my grandma passed away. To this day, fishing remains a pastime that is extremely relaxing for me. Sometimes on a Friday night, he’d buy rainbow trout (my favourite type of fish), give me a call around 4:30 and invite me for dinner. No one else in my family liked trout except him and I. He taught me how to make traditional chips (a.k.a. french fries). After dinner, we’d go on a drive.

He taught me about woodworking when I was four. I remember wandering down to his workshop one day and he set up me with some pieces of wood to nail together. After that, him and I started building different things together. Often, my job was to sand the wood smooth or hammer the pieces together. I designed this wheel thingy and together we built it. I’ve got it somewhere still. When I was eight, we built a sandbox together for my brother. We made the design, bought the wood, nailed/glued, and painted it.

When I was 10, a year after my grandma passed away, Pa and I went to England for the summer. Just the two of us. It was an amazing trip and one I still think of often. We stayed with his sister (my great-aunt). We went to Blenheim Palace, drove around the English countryside, went to Stratford-Upon-Avon and ate traditional English fish & chips.

Pa loved Johnny Carson. He loved to go bird watching. One of his favourite songs was Tennessee Waltz by Patti Paige. He was a hard worker,  a smart man, had a knack for small business, loved wood working, fishing and birdwatching. He was a great story teller & teacher.  He was my pa. So, Pa, wherever you  may be right now, Happy Birthday. I miss you. Thank-you for everything you taught me, all the time we spent together and for being a wonderful, awesome person. I rarely said to you in person, but I love you and always will.

This summer, I’ll catch a trout for you & go birdwatching. I’ll do the things you & used to do together that I still love to do.

Namaste,

~Mary~

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~ by Failsafe on 2010-March-21.