Grandpa Earl Volpert, Sr. WW II
Memorial Day is a special day to be reserved for those service men who did not return home.
Butch’s dad, Earl Volpert Sr., did come home after serving as a medic in Italy in WWII. Earl Jr. (Butch or Dado as he is better known) was two before his father held him. He spent many years coaching the boys of St. Patrick’s Elementary the art of playing basketball. He worked his way up through the ranks of the Terre Haute Fire Department. After retirement from the THFD, he was the Asst. Director of Civil Defense in Terre Haute. The Cuban Missile Crisis was ever bit as scary as the unrests of today
His joy was a premie named Beth. When she got old enough to enjoy real food her favorite was strawberries. We made the trip from northern Indiana to Terre Haute about every three months. In the worst of Winter somehow he always found fresh strawberries for her arrival. This was the early ‘60’s, a far different grocery shopping world than today. His house was full of several generations and not a lot of dollars. It is the memories that count in families.
In my multigenerational garden in Grayson, GA the strawberry plants have not produced well. This Spring we took Jackson, Steve and Kim’s 4 yr. old, to the strawberry fields in Loganville to pick his own gallon. Like his Auntie “B” they are his favorite food. However, yesterday I noticed that Jackson’s strawberry plant on his back deck has sprouted new tendrils and flowers. My circuitous thinking says to me that on this Memorial Day it is Grandpa Volpert Sr.’s way of saying hello to a little strawberry loving fellow with the last name of Volpert. Sr. died years before there was a Jackson, but it is the memories that count in families.
Marianne “Ditdo” Lough Volpert writes along with her daughter, Beth in the Multigenerational Garden. They live in Grayson, GA.
FreelanceBeth 