GRANDPA

One thing that made my grandpa more fun than the rest was the fact that he was a salesman of customized novelty promotional products for as long as I can remember. In the market for 20,000 carrot peelers with your company name on it? How about custom ice scrapers, frisbees, or clips to hold potato chip bags shut? Grandpa was your man. This meant that his home office was constantly cluttered with strange plastic sample doodads and our extended family stayed stocked with endless calendars, flashlights, oven mits, and those rubber things that help you grip jar lids. The item pictured above is a sample from a key fob sales kit grandpa gave me when I was a kid. Props like that made it a blast to play "traveling salesman." Thanks to him I was completely prepared for a world where weary journeymen received complimentary dayglo flower keychains after a nights rest at the Holiday Inn.

But this interesting occupation was just a small component that made grandpa the unique and wonderful man that he was. Far greater was his tremendous character and loving spirit.

In memory of Grandpa Eugene
(November 1924 - August 2007)
See you in heaven grandpa.