Grandpa Interview

The most rapidly growing age group in the United States is the elderly, or those individuals age sixty-five and older (Wood, Wood, & Boyd, 2011). Late adulthood stretches from age 65 to the end of the lifespan (Laura E Berk, 2010, p. 1). Or it can be called gerontology which is the study of the aging processes and individuals as they grow from middle age through later life. ("Association For Gerontology For Higher Education ", n.d.). In order to understand the changes in late adulthood I interviewed a sixty eight year old African American male, who I will refer to as the participant. He is retired from Military and Law Enforcement each he has

I had the pleasure of interviewing my grandfather, Leo Thomas, who was born in Sommers, Wisconsin in 1931. He married his childhood sweetheart, Judy, and they have been married for 62 years. Leo is currently 85 years old, living in Union Grove, WI and spends his days being sassy to Judy while he relaxes in his recliner because of his lack of mobility. My grandpa participated in the Korean war, first in the navy then transferring to the marines as a corpsman. To this day, sharing the stories from the war is not an easy task. My grandfather can talk about his 50 years working as a barber for hours, but bringing up the war is not something mentioned in his house. My grandma even made it clear when I started the interview that this is not a topic

He had this look on his face like he was trying to remember and after a couple minutes, he answered, “I was born in 1928, and I was lucky compared to some. We were farmers, and while things were tight we came out better than many. God provided what we needed, and after things started looking better he started blessing us with even more.” My grandpa continued to tell me how those first 11 years or so of his life taught him to use everything sparingly, be smart about what you throw away, and if it isn’t broken you don’t need a new one. These lessons he learned during that time didn’t disappear. To this day, he still thinks about it and remembers the tougher times and remembers how bad the world can get. Then, going with the second question I had he continued on about how with the Depression ending there was a new problem to take its place, World War II. At first, he only heard about the war, the U.S. wasn’t that involved, but even so, everyone was working. “Donations were sent, shops needed extra help, anyone who was old enough and able-bodied was waiting for the day they’d be called up. In ‘41, when Pearl Harbor was attacked, that’s when it got bad. The U.S. joined the battle, and local men were going to war. At the time, you had to be 21 to be drafted, but with there having been an attack on U.S. it was lowered to 18. I was 13 or 14 at this time. I didn’t turn 18 until ‘45. By that time we had won, but I still signed up. I was sent to Japan in ‘46, and it was bad.” My grandpa didn’t go much further than that, but he said that every person did what they had to, everyone worked together, everyone supported. He says that he’ll never forget what some of the aftereffects were of the war and that it’s not something you can fall asleep after and just forget. The last event I inquired about was the 1969 Moon landing of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. My grandpa said

Coming to Miami from the communitst country of Cuba in 1995, was the least to say a culture shock for my grandparents. With the little change that they had in their pockets, they set out to give their family a better life than their own. Their lives had already began to take a turn, as my grandfather was drafted into the United Sates army, sending them off to Germany. During his service, he was a barber for his camp, which he told me was his passion, because of the relationships he could make with others.When he describes this time for me he explains how this was not the beginning of his new life, it was only the road to get him there. This really resonated with me, because he knew in his heart when he had made it, which was neither in Germany nor New York where they had lived right after is service.

For my veteran essay, I decided to interview my grandpa, Joe (my mom’s dad). When he served, he served in the army as a chef for two years. His rank was specialist, 5th class. In 1965, Joe came home from work and saw his girlfriend (my grandma) and his mom looking at a letter, crying. She gave him the letter and he felt a bus token. When you were drafted, they would give you a bus token to get to the army. He was stationed in Fort Gordon in Georgia. He stayed in the U.S because his father died when he was eight years old and he had to support his mother and my grandma.

I’m glad my dad came home safely from the war and still in his right mind. A six year war like that could kill a man physically, emotionally, or socially. But that war was fought mostly by hillbillies no one has ever heard of like my daddy and granddaddy, but grand dad wasn’t so fortunate as daddy was. I imagine when I grow up there will be another war and I’ll be drafted and I’ll walk up my driveway to my wife and

For my interview essay I decided to interview my grandfather, Ronny Allgeier. Ronny is my father’s father, who I have known all of my life. He was born January 28th, 1942 in Louisville, Kentucky. Later came his sister, Sharon, who was born just four years later. Raised by their parents, Sylvester and Anna May, they lived in the same house while growing up. He attended high school at St. Xavier and then entered the Air Force for four years to become a mechanic during the War of Vietnam. After returning from the war he got married to his current wife now, Rebecca. Shortly after he was a route salesman for Ehrler’s Dairy Company, and also opened up his own business known as Allgeier Sod which my father later worked for. His two sons and only children, Todd (my father) and Terry, also attended St. Xavier in Louisville. Although I have always

I have recently interviewed my grandmother Mindy. I chose to interview my grandmother because we have a close relationship and I look up to her and love spending every second with her and couldn’t think of a better person to interview than her. The reason for this interview is to get an insight of how her pregnancy coming from her. In this interview I will learn all about her pregnancy, from the beginning to the end. Mindy is my grandmother because she is my mothers mother. Mindy has spent most of her life in Kenya, and now resides now in America.

A few weeks ago I was sitting in my kitchen going over my “to-do’s” for the week and I realized I hadn't figured out what to do for my second reflection paper for my SW 333 class. I told my roommate that I was troubled by the assignment since I didn't want to “interview” one of my friends and talk about the same old same old “highs and lows” of being an lgbtqia+ identified individual in today’s society. We all know how that paper would read. Luckily, my friends mom overheard my conversation and suggested I meet up with her old co-worker as he would be a great person to interview. Suffice to say, she was more than right. A week later, I met up with Tommy Allen and had a great open discussion about a variety of issues and topics that not only effect both the local and national communities. A little background info about Tommy Allen: He is the publisher and lifestyle editor at Rapid Growth Media, as well as a Commissioner for the city of Grand Rapids, which is a mayor appointed position.

L was married for 20 years. She has 2 daughters; one is going to school and the other lives in Texas. Her mother has been living with her for 3 ½ years. She enjoys movies, having coffee with her friends once a week, and her two grandchildren. She is active in her church, and used to do prison ministry. She works in Gerontology at the Health Sciences Center and has been a Tech employee for 25 years.

I went into heritage health expecting to interview a senior citizen, instead I found someone who reminds me very much of myself. Her name is Dorothy and she was originally from Morris IL. She moved down to Jacksonville to be closer to her family. She grew up in the town of Morris and always thought she would live the life of a farmer. She met her husband in high school and said that her fondest memory was when she thinks back on her wedding day. His family was so caring and they accepted her into the family with open arms. Her family loved him as well and she would joke around with her husband about how her mother always liked him more than her! The country life snuck up on her and she loved every minute of it. After graduation from high school

My grandfather is the nicest person I know when it comes to military struggles.Back in the day, when my grandfather was in the military and there

The sun began to set below the mountains as we were finishing up the interview with my grandfather. I click the stop button on the voice recorder, “Man, you lived an interesting life. Do you have anything else you will like to add to it?” I said. “No, I think I gave you my whole life story. Do you think it is enough for your paper or whatever you are doing, Junior?” he replies. I shook my head and answer yes forgetting that my grandfather is legally blind in both eyes, a simple yes would have been enough. This was the most my grandfather talked about his past to anyone. He is a quiet man, all he needed was his smoking pipe, newspapers, an outdoor setting, and he would be just fine in this world. When I was a little boy, learning

Steven Webb is my grandfather name; he is a 75-year-old retried vet. My grandfather was in the Army for 22 years, he’s now retried and lives in Florida and recruit for the military. My grandmother is lucky to have this man of God in her life. I always look up to my grandfather not because of him being in the Army just because of the type of man he is. The story I’m going to share with you is the time my grandfather took me to a basketball game. People may just say oh it’s just a game. NO. It was way more than just a game. So I just had lost my best friend in high school due to a car crash, I was out of it. Did not want to do anything but sit at her grave site. I missed school for 3 days

My grandpa was born in 1946 and has 5 siblings, with him being the oldest among them. His father immigrated to Minnesota from Germany a few years before World War 2. My grandpa told me stories about my great-grandpa fighting for the Americans during the war, and at one point he was captured for several months by the Germans. He said they treated him surprisingly well, with his release following the collapse of Germany and Soviet occupation of Berlin. After the war, he returned to his farm in Minnesota where I believe he spent the rest of his life working until his death. My grandpa and his siblings also spent most of their childhood and teenage years helping on the farm.