Remembrances by Ginny

Unfortunately, I did not have the opportunity to really know “Grandpa Harris” (how he was referred in our home) having only met him in 1954 on our first trip to the US. What I do remember from that trip was his warm quiet manner and how proud he was of his camp at the lake (he introduced Billy and I for the first time to his piece of heaven on earth), his love for fishing and the fact, as was told by my father, that not only did Papi have great respect for Grandpa Harris but that he truly made him feel part of mom’s family.

In one of my conversations with Grandma (Vera) about Grandpa Harris’ kind and giving spirit, she shared that when she and Grandpa Gladding became pregnant with their first baby, my mother, they were very young, had to get married and they struggled financially; they were very poor: buying food and paying the bills was impossible to do. Grandpa Harris would stop by on a weekly basis to check on grandma and her baby. On one of those first visits, he noticed that they lacked heat and from then on he insisted that she accept money from him weekly to make ends meet. Grandpa Harris’ only request was for her to keep his generosity as a gift and it’s knowledge between them. Grandma was able to comply with his wish for secrecy but she kept a log of his “gifts” and she repaid him several years after that, Mom was 10.