Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Justin, my hero

When I was a little girl, I loved to go visit my great grand father who lived on the next block. He was so interesting to me because he was so old and I loved to hear the stories he had to tell about what it was like when he was my age (like no indoor toilets!). He is my "hero" because he did a lot during his lifetime, starting with the DARING to move from the old homestead near Mansfield, Ohio, to the west coast. Surrounding the portrait are some of what he is remembered for, even if it is all in the family:
- moving west to be a professional photographer but then learning carpentry
- settling in southern California and becoming a designer and builder of homes and churches
- inventing and patenting the internal ventilation fan in 1925, designed to get the smoke out of the kitchen
- retiring from work at 85 and a few years later taking up oil painting, of which he probably did close to a hundred
- baking his own, very yummy cherry pies
- living to the end, at 96