Hoosier Daddy | Previous Challenge Entry

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TITLE: Hoosier Daddy | Previous Challenge Entry
By Doris Smith
12/10/14
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Grandpa Thackery was a special man. His schooling ended at the eighth grade, but he was wise. Walter was a quiet, unassuming, helpful Christian farmer, husband, father, and grandfather. During World War II, my mother, sister, and I lived on the farm with Grandpa and Grandma while my father was in the Navy. For a few years he was my substitute daddy.

We were well fed. The women in the house spent the summer harvesting Grandpa’s garden and canning for the winter. There was always plenty of milk to drink and whipped cream for the desserts. At three years of age I sat in my high chair next to him at every meal. If peaches were the dessert, they were served with a mound of whipped cream in the hollow center. I would eat all the whipped cream, then Grandpa would say, “Oh, my, you didn’t get any cream on that peach.” Another scoop would appear and we grinned at our own little secret.

Grandpa was wise with finances and figures. He had a trick number he would use to show us how he could multiply two triple-digit numbers in his head. Every time we gave him the numbers, he would work quickly to find his answer while we used the old-fashioned way. He was always correct.

He didn’t say much, but when he did speak it was worth it to listen carefully. In his 80s he became much quieter day by day. As his memory left him, I often wondered if we had given him two sets of numbers whether he could still remember the number trick.

He treasured his family. When the war was over and my dad was expected back home, Grandpa drove his old Chevy truck to the Indianapolis railroad station every day just in case dad had made that train. After several days he was successful and brought his son-in-law home to his family.

was a tall, gangly man with large hands. His hair had a tight wave and he kept his comb-over covered with his old farm hat most of the time. He wasn’t handsome, but in my eyes he was beautiful. If I had to compare him to someone. If I had to compare him to someone, I would say Abe Lincoln. They both were tall and gangly, quiet and unassuming, wise and winsome.

In their later years, Grandma wrote in a diary that she “loved that man so much.” We all did, because there was much to love.

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