As I look back on my life, I see that my grandpa was one of the most influential people of my childhood. For the first ten years of my life my family lived on the same property as he did, just a few dozen yards up a hill from his house. I remember my brothers and I would run down the hill to Grandpa’s house almost every day. One of the things I think of most when I remember my grandpa is the fact that he was always busy. He was always tinkering on his tractor, working in his garden, or fixing tools and machinery. Even though he had retired from the two jobs he had held over the years, he was never idle for as long as I knew him.
Grandpa’s family taught him to work hard and stay on the go. He was born in 1930 and grew up on a dairy farm in rural Illinois in the midst of the Great Depression and World War II. He learned from an early age the importance of hard work since he did it all the time. I remember seeing numerous old newspaper articles with pictures featuring a younger version of Grandpa and reading about how the Bradley farm was using technology to save time with milking. Not only did he learn the importance of physical labor, but he also gained invaluable experience and resourcefulness from working with farm equipment.
Another influence in my grandpa’s life was the time he spent in the Air Force in the early 1950s. Although he couldn’t become a pilot because of his poor eyesight, he was able to work as an airplane mechanic. Even though he never saw action in the sense of piloting a plane while he was in the military, he gained discipline and a good work ethic from those few years he spent in the Air Force. In 1953, his father injured his back so he needed my grandpa back on the farm. The Air Force granted Grandpa an honorable discharge and he went back home to work.
This hard-working attitude persisted through the years. In the 1980s, Grandpa was able to retire early but he grew restless and went to work at another job before he eventually retired from that job as well. While at home he kept busy with numerous projects such as painting, fixing machinery, and building various contraptions. He was always doing something. Grandpa always had time for his grandkids—in between and even during the time he spent working on projects. As far back as I can remember he kept a large garden. Every spring he would go out and plow the dirt and then we would help with the planting and watering of the seeds. During the summer we were out there with Grandpa pulling weeds and picking vegetables as they ripened. Then when fall came we were there again helping him pick the rest of the vegetables.
Grandpa had an old farm tractor that he used to do a variety of different things around his property. He used it for mowing the grass, digging, and pulling trees and branches. Problems with his tractor would come up regularly, so he would fix them up. Another of his projects was a couple of go-karts. For one reason or another there always seemed to be something wrong with one of them so Grandpa would either fix it or devise some clever outside-the-box solution. On one of the go-karts he rigged up a rearview mirror and a hanging handle connected to the brake pedal so he could brake using his hand rather than his foot.
My brothers and I would go to Grandpa’s house every opportunity we had. Even after my family moved a few miles away we would frequently call Grandpa and ask if we could come over. We were always welcome at his house. Even though I didn’t realize it as a child, I have come to understand that my grandpa had a profound impact on my life. I noticed his consistent hard-working attitude and that influenced me to keep at it. Grandpa’s life experiences cultivated his commitment to hard work, but he made time for the important people in his life. His unwavering commitment to hard work while still making time for his grandkids is one of the greatest things I remember about him.
