Grandpa Faulkner |
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Frank Faulkner |
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Frank Faulkner was a kind and friendly man. I don't remember ever seeing him in a suit, although I suppose he had one. He always wore bright flannel shirts and overalls and work boots. He worked hard. He had a horse and wagon with which he would go down to the beach at Lake Erie and take a shovel and fill the wagon up with gravel. I suppose he sold the gravel to contractors and builders. He and Grandma never seemed to have much money to throw around - but I don't remember ever hearing a harsh word from them. They just made do with what they had. He always had a healthy appetite. After lunch he always laid down on the couch by the window in the kitchen and had a nap for an hour or two. The window sill always had geraniums on the sill. After hauling all that gravel he was, no doubt, tired and had sense enough to rest awhile. |
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On the Farm |
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Grandpa had a plough and would work up his acre of ground. I can remember helping him to plant potatoes, He always kidded me and said I was putting them upside down and that they would grow down to China. As a child I thought this was a wondrous thing and visualized Chinese children finding potatoes in their garden and wondering where they came from. Grandpa would take sides of pork and hams and smoke them in the smoke house out by the barn. He married Grandma when she was a widow with two children - Percy Kenneth, & Clara. He fathered two more children - Bill & Hilda. |
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The Root Cellar |
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Sometimes Grandpa would disappear down into the cellar. This was a dark pit dug out of the ground with a dirt floor and a narrow little stairway leading down to it. I suspect he had a little cache of home-made brew or hard cider or corn whiskey. However, I never saw him the worse for liquor. He would go out to the barn and milk the cow. He tried to show me how to milk - but squeeze the teats anyway I could - I could never produce a drop of milk. Grandpa's son, Bill Faulkner, joined the Services during the First Wold War. He was sent overseas and died during the terrible influenza epidemic. |
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