Friday, January 13, 2006

Childhood of your Grandparents

Now that you have talked to your parents about their childhoods, take your same assignment and apply to your grandparents. If you are unable to talk to your grandparents, find an older neighbor (50 years old or more) and ask them about their childhood. What games did they play? What did they do to stay busy? Do they have any funny stories to share? Report on what you learn in your blog. Read the first entry to learn about my grandma!

25 comments:

Casey said...

When my grandma was young, she always talks to me about how money was very tight and families were very close. My grandma went to a Lutheran school in St. Paul, Minnesota. She talks often about how safe neighborhoods were then (she was born in 1929). She used to be able to walk downtown with her friends at midnight!

Something that I think is really funny is that instead of going to tanning booths to look tan, my grandma used to rub this awful orangish lotion on her legs. If she wasn't careful, it would all rub off on her clothes.

She was also very tidy and kept her room immaculately. She would often go behind her mom (my great grandma) and clean the house after her.

My grandma's father died when she was quite young. He got into a fight and was pushed off a rock ledge over a river, only 3 blocks from her home.

My great-grandma was an excellent baker as well! In fact, she won the Pillsbury bake-off two times by creating her own recipe (that was a nation-wide competition and a pretty big honor). On Saturdays, my grandma had to help do all of the baking for the week. They would make oodles of cakes, cookies, breads, and sometimes even noodles!

I could go on forever, but I am interested to hear what you have to say!

Anonymous said...

My Grandma Diane Grueneberg(Meyer) was born Feb. 18,1945 in Milwaukee at St. Mary's Hospital. Her dad was a carpenter and her mom stayed at home. She grew up in Milwaukee and later moved to Cedarburg after her mom died. My Grandma was only 14 and her 2 older sisters and her moved a lot and were in Foster homes since her dad had a hard time taking care of them. My grandma got lucky and stayed with a nice family in Cedarburg. They had a huge cat named Puddy. My Grandma played store ,dress-up and played with cut-outs when she was little. She would babysit and worked at the Rivoli Theatre, and a store called Soxies which is the now the General Store over by St. Frances church. Her hobbies were sewing, tennis,cooking and baking and her favorite swimming. She liked being with her friends. When my Grandpa started dating my grandma...he was afraid of Puddy that was how BIG the cat was !

Anonymous said...

I interviewed my grandpa and grandma Wollner. My first question was " What games did you play?" My grandpa said that he played tag, played with marbles, and he played baseball. My grandma said that she jumped rope, played hopscotch and also played with marbles. My second question was " What did you do to stay busy?" My grandpa said that he rode his bike, played with the rabbits, and fed the baby calves and chicks. My grandma said that she did chores and played with dolls and friends. My final question was " Do you have any funny stories to share?" My grandpa said that he had a pet goat and his dad made him a goat cart and harness and he went up and down Highway 60 with it. That is what my grandpa and grandma Wollner said about what they did when they were kids.

Anonymous said...

I don't know that much about my grandparents, but I can start with the one on my dad's side. On my dad's side I only have one grandma. She is named Sue Plumeau and this is about her. We used to always go to this one beach called L.B.A. this stood for Long Beach Island. It wasn't really an island, but it was fun! We used to go there and look for shells. I was never aloud to go that deep in the water because my grandma couldn't swim. As I got older like around 6 my dad would take me in farther, but now I go all by my self( i mean you would hope so right?) Anyway she also used to have little toys to play with called play-mo-dudes. Or at least that was what we called them, they had hair that could snap on and off. I used to try and try just to get the hair off, but the only way that I could do it was when I used my teeth. She never told me about her past,l but I do know that when I was just a baby my grandpa died. At the age of ten all of the family gets a book to read about him and it tells about what a good person he was. Anyway I should get to my mom's side. I also never hear anything about their pasts, but I know that her mom and step fathyer are some of the smartest people I have ever met. They do alot with the mind. I do know that that grandma is called mom mom and her new husband is called doc doc and my real grandpa is called pop pop. I know that once mom mom had her head phones on and went for a long walk around the washington monuments. She had some friends with her for exercise and when she was done with the walk she took off the headphones. Her friends thanked her for her very musical toots. LOL! She never heard them! This year pop pop came to my house and we went to burger king because he goes there every week. When we got to the window he wanted some hot sause, but they didn't have anything. Then the lady said, "Sorry, we only have sweet and sour sause today." He yelled back, "This aint no chinese joint!" The whole car burst into laughs! That is really all I know about my grandparents and the story with the toots came from my mom so thanks mom! emily

Anonymous said...

I interveiwed my Grandpa Vincent Pellettieri. He lived in Chicago Illinoise, and went to St. Gregory. His favorite subject was math, and that was his best subject. He did band and played basketball, softball, tennise football, and more to entertain himself. Some funny things that he did was that as a high schooler he wore the same jaket and tie every day even though he had out grown it. He also ate his lunch before the lunch period during classes. He used to collect news papers and other stuff for world war two. He had tons and tons, and piles andpiles of papers. He also did alot with his family. Thats all that I have The End

Anonymous said...

I interviewed my grandpa. He is my dad's father. When he was my age he would wake up at 5 in the morning every day to milk the cows. He lived on a farm wich he still lives on today but the barn is gone and the fields are gone too. Anyway he had about 40 cows to milk with his 2 brothers and father. After that he would go to school for 6 hours. Then he would walk home and Help work in the fields after that he could do whatever he felt like doing he mostly played sports with his brothers though. One other thing is that he also liked to play in the barn. In the barn he would tie a rope and swing toward the hay and then leap into the hay he would do this for hours. And on cold days the best place to take a nap was in the hay floor in the barn. The hay floor was right above where the cows and animals stayed so all the heat would rise in there and get to about 75 degrees in there.












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Anonymous said...

I interviewed my Grandma. She is 62 years old and was born in 1943. She was born in Rio, Wisconsin and was raised on a farm near Jackson, Wisconsin. She said her life on the farm was a lot of work, but also a lot of fun. She went to David's Star through eighth grade and Cedarburg High School. Her favorite subject was Reading and her least favorite subject was Math. She met my Grandpa during her junior year in high school. They married at David's Star Church in 1962. She and my Grandpa had four children, three boys and my mom. Today, they live in Cedarburg. I enjoy seeing my grandparents often.

Anonymous said...

Well I interviewed my grampa, Lester Riebe, and when he was young he lived with his dad on a fox farm. He went to all Ceaderburg schools such as Ceaderburg High School. He played the tuba in school, went to marching band. Then when he was a senior in high school, he got drafted for World War Two. So he went off to war when he was about eightteen or nineteen. He fought in the battle of the Bulge. He also fought at Duchow. That was a natzi consintration camp. Then he was in the Ceaderburg civic band. Then got back from war and married Caryl's mom. Then he worked at Rebie's groceries store. That got forced out of business, but that didn't stop him, he got a new job and worked as a mechanic at the Ted Grob Corperation. Then he had my step-mom Caryl, and her brother Dave. Then he retired at about age sixty-two.

Anonymous said...

I decieded to interview my grsndpa. Over the phone because I had no chocie
really.He played baseball,and went swiming, and played touch foot ball, and basketball ( horse ) , cards and marbles.He had to take care of the yard.Hoe and weed it the garden.pick rasberrys,mellons,and strawberrys and more.And I bet you Knew this was comeing chores.the windos had to be washed once a week.The floor had be washed and waxed not much T.V.
only wachted baseball and Football only Green Bay packer games

Anonymous said...

I talked to my grandma about her life when she was little. She was the middle child and have 4 other siblings. Things she did for fun was tag, hopscotch, old maid, and hide-and-go-seek. Also there wern't any Tv's until she was in 5th grade and her dad purchased one then. But there were only 4 channels and no remote. She grew up living in Minnesota (and still does) and of the farm most of the time. one of her favorite classes in school was to help in the office. She would like call absent kids houses to see why they wern't at school. Now she is a secretary at Visitaion high school (in Minnesota). She also didn't go to college because not many girls did back then. so she graduated high school in 1962. When she was in grade school they went home from lunch if they lived close. My grandma lived 1 1/2 blocks away so she walked home for lunch. I think it was very interesting to interview her ecause i only knew a few things that she told me. BUH BYE!!!

Anonymous said...

I interviewed my Grandma. I asked her what games she played. She said, "we played alley alley oop" They were on two sides of the garage and we would through a ball over the roof. It was toward night and they would hide. She can't really remember what they all did. They played dodge ball. They rollar skated. I also asked what the most high teck thing was and she said she didn't get a TV until she was 14, so it was probably a radio. She would go to her Uncle Henry's house on Friday nights and watch wrestling because he had a TV. She didn't like to watch wrestling but wanted to watch the TV. I also wanted to know about her pets. Her parents didn't believe in having house pets so they raised rabbits. But they ate some of them for meat.

Anonymous said...

When i was young i did alot of things with my grandparents that i don't remember about. I remember when my grandma gave me a drink of her bear. I also remember when my brother spilled coffie on himself, or when i domped the toys in my old house all over the whole basment at a party and my grandma helped me pick it all up. And that is prety much all i remember about.

Anonymous said...

I interviewed my Grandpa (dads side) and he said he didn't stay inside much, he was very active way back when. And he did alot of work too. Video games weren't invented when he was a kid so there really wasn't a point in staying inside.(except for TV but then they didn't have very good TV) He moved logs, shoveled snow, and took the peir out of the water at winter time. So he had a pretty hard time. Except for when he was with his friends.


































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Anonymous said...

I heard from many older people how life was like and this is what they told me. They told me that there was no computers, gameboys and all the other stuff like that. They played dolls and barbies and they played outside alot more then we do now. Some of the chores they had were cleaning there room,making there beds and they had to wash the dishes and the hard part about washing the dishes were that they didnt have a washing macine so they had to wash them by hand.And that is why I m glad I live in the 2006.

Anonymous said...

When my grandpa was young, he would play cards(sheepshead) with his parents. He would also play monopoly and other board games. To stay busy, my grandpa would p;ay baseball all by himself(that would be pretty hard). He would also shovel snow in the winter. In summer, he would cut the lawn, too. Then he would also do the garden. He would pick strawberries, raspberries, corn, and other vegetables. This is what my grampa would do when he was a kid.

Anonymous said...

I interviewed my Grandma Kendall (mom's side) over the phone. She said they played games like kick the can, red rover, tag, marbles, and many other games. She said she enjoyed playing games whenever she got the chance. She said that she was always kept busy. She had a garden that was an acre and a half acre strawberry patch. She said she would pick strawberries every day and work in her garden a lot. She liked to eat the strawberries and had lots of vegetables from her garden. She said that she had a good childhood and had lots of fun.

Anonymous said...

I interviewed my grandma Betz in Hawaii. Grandma Betz had a fun childhood she was the oldest of 8 kids. she went to a pinic plase and it was by the woods they ate fried chicken than they played in the woods. She went for nurses training and she got enough money to buy a car she drove all over the north east. she worked as a nurse for 5 years than she went to Alaska to work as a school nurse for a bording school. Thats were she met Grandpa Betz. than she got married in August of 1962. they did a lot of camping and hiking together they drove all around alaska.

Anonymous said...

My Grandma was born on Sunday OCT. 6 1929 and went to school in A one room school. She loved to play storeand saved All the boxes from what they ate so she could play store . went with her mother to sell things at the Green market which is know clled the farmers market.She had A cat named rasbery because she found her in the rasberry pach. Also loved to play house. When she got older she had to do the cleaning cooking and the baking. They lived on A farm and she liked to play in t6he hay mow. In the summer she went to the Milwaukee river to swim with her 2 friends. there are some things about my grandma.

Anonymous said...

I picked my aunt. when she was little she played lots of card and board games. She played baseball and jump rope and a lot of other outside games. She waked to Bradford beach in Malwakie and went swimming. They walked to save money for treats. She read lots of books and in the winter she ice skating. she went to the farm a lot. One time while making fun of boys and sitting on a shed on the farm[she had relatives with her]the boys snuck up and pushed them into the pig pen and the barn yard. Both places were full of manure. Pig and cow manure!

The end

Anonymous said...

I interviewed my Grandma(mom's side). She grew up in Kiel, Wi. She went to Kiel Public Schools all her life = 14 years! She had 1 brother. When she was 9 years old she already had a job, she babysat for a cripled girl in her neighborhood. She played checkers and in the summer she would play marbles. When she was 8 she also broke her collar bone. She also enjoyed fishing in the river. She even had a tree stump to sit on. One day she fell into the river and her dad pulled her out, dried her off and they kept right on fishing. She also started to play flute at the age of 8. She played in band a long time, she even was a drum majorette. My grandma loved to skate and tried to skate as much as she could. Here are some funny things that happened to her: 1. Once in Home Ec. they were cooking tomatoes in a presure cooker and it didn't really work, the tomatoes exploded! 2. When she was in kindergartan she asked a girl what her name was and the girl answered by saying" It's none of your business." 3. (this was very scarey for her) One day her brother told her to hide under the porch for hide-n-seek and when my grandma went under, her brother locked her in and didn't tell her parents, but finally they found her. My grandma is a wonderful person who cares about every person. When she was growing up her mom became a Jahovah's Witness but my grandma stuck to her faith. To me, she's an angel sent down by God to help the world. I love my grandma very much. She's the best grandma a girl could hope for.

Anonymous said...

i interviewed my grandma.She grew up in Jansville, Wisconsin.In her house hold there were eight people.She and her brothers and sisters loved to go and make forts and rafts in the three acers of land.She played alot of make believe games like Tarzan.Every saturday night eight people took a bath in the sink.My grandma's mom had to make food for eight people.She grew crops in their gardenand her dad hunted.Thats how they got their food.I learned that my grandma lived in Jansville.Also that thhow they lived back then. The end

Anonymous said...

i interviewed my grandma.She grew up in Jansville, Wisconsin.In her house hold there were eight people.She and her brothers and sisters loved to go and make forts and rafts in the three acers of land.She played alot of make believe games like Tarzan.Every saturday night eight people took a bath in the sink.My grandma's mom had to make food for eight people.She grew crops in their gardenand her dad hunted.Thats how they got their food.I learned that my grandma lived in Jansville.Also that thhow they lived back then. The end

Anonymous said...

I interviewed my Granpa Scholz. He grew up in Adell, WI. He was one of six kids. Two of his sisters died when they were very young. He attended Plymouth high school. His nickname was "Lightning" because he was always running and he was very fast. My Grandpa and his brother and there sister married my Grandma and her sister and there brother. When we looked at there photo albums all the brothers and sisters are standing up in the wedding party. Grandpa has a work room in his house where he has many wood working tools. He loves to craft different things. He can make you anything you want all you have to do is show him a picture and he will diagram it and he will build it. He is very handy.

Anonymous said...

My Grandma Colleen (Colleen Shaw) was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin at St.Joseph's hospital. She lived in Milwuakee until she was 5 years old. At that time, her father worked for Schlitz Brewery and his job tranferred to Californai. she lived for 2 years in Californai from age 5 to age 8. Then they moved back to Wisconsin. The games she would play for fun are Old Maid, War, Button,Button Whose got the Button. She would also catch fireflies and play Hide and Go Seek. In her free time she would read and play with friends. She also liked to go to the park and skate. One funyy story is that my grandma said she would pay my sister 25 cents to lick her shoes. My grandmas sister did it but my grandma didn't pay her. Another funny story was when my grandma was at her aunts house and five people had to sleep in a hidaway bed and they had a pickle passing party. Whenever some one wanted a pickle thay would just pass it around. Well that's it.

Anonymous said...

I interveiwed my grandma Barelmann. She told me some stuff about her life. First she was born on Aug. 19, 1936, and lived in Cedarburg,and went to FIL. She had 1 brother and 1 sister. She didn't have a very big family. Her favorite subject was spelling/english. Her favorite games were hop-scotch, jumprope, and carem. She had to walk 2 miles to school. She did chores like clean her room, and dishes. She also picked apples because she lived on a orcherd. She also played baseball with the neighbor kids everyday. The funniest momment was when she was in a hurry she grabbed a lunch bag and went to school. Then she opened it and it was a huge summersausage. That is what i learned about my grandma.