FROM THE SCRAPBOOK
By Dr. Bill Randall
June 1996
I am fascinated by stories! This month I want to share with you some family stories written by Grade
8 students. I wish we had space to share them all, but I know you’ll enjoy the warm
emotions displayed by these great young people – Bill
( Stories are typed as submitted by the students – no spelling and/or grammar checks.)
The last minnutes
It was 5:00 p.m. and I was home making supper when the phone rang, on the phone I heard my grandma and she sounded like she was in pain, so I ran upstairs to find my 67 year old grandma on the couch saying her chest was hurting.
I called the ambulance and loosened her cloths and took off her wacth and tried to relex her but I really did not think it was a heart attack I thought that she would be fine.
My grandpa and I followed the ambulance to the doctor when we arrived I had found out that she died in the ambulance. I really wanted to go in the ambulance but the man said I was not allowed.
My grandma was really a friend to everyone and we all miss her, me and my grandma were really close. She raised me while my Mom was still in school, all of my family didn’t like that much because grandma and I had a bond stronger than all of the familyes bond.
My grandma was only 67 when she died her Mom died of a heart attack too at age 68, I know what my future holds for me and my family.
The hardest part of it all was the viewing in the funeral home. My grandma laid there so stiff and so cold with not a small on her face, that was the last time I had seen my grandma.
Know she is in the grave yard, well her body is, but I don’t know where her soul is.
Natasha
The Old House
The story I most remember from when I was little, is when my brother and I went into my grandmother’s old attic in her old house.
It was really dark and creepy in there and it was also really neat, it looked like a small apartment.
I remember the old stuff that used to be up there that was my Mom’s and Uncles’. There was old dolls, cradles, and a old rocking horse.
My grandmother was always saying “Watch out for the boogie man up there,” and I believed her that there was really one up there! I would hang on to Mark’s shirt looking around for the old boogie man.
The floor in the attic was really thin and would crack when you walked on it. Some parts of the floor you couldn’t walk on because you would fall through.
After three years later, my grandmother wanted to build another house, because the old one was getting so there was a lot of fixing up that would have to be done, and it was rotting.
My dad and uncles all worked together tearing it down. I remember going to the attic with them while they took everything downstairs. After about a week was torn down completely. I really miss the old house because of the attic.
My Grandfather
My grandfather is an old man now, but battling with cancer hasn’t stopped him from living. He is well now and very much alive. I don’t want to lose him or stories of his past, so I will try, to keep at least one.
When Papa was barely twenty-one, he was sent to Europe as a soldier for World War Two and one of his duties was digging trenches. He dug for a while, then, tired and hungry, he left his shovel standing while he lay down to rest. He barely notices his shovel being moved backward slightly, and didn’t acknowledge the sniper on top of a nearby church, picking off soldiers one by one. As Papa got up to dig again, he saw a bullet in the handle of his shovel. At that moment, the sniper on the nearby church was shot by one of Papa’s comrades.
Many other stories tell of Papa’s close calls and bravery. He is truly a soldier of the war – and
of life.
Crystal Craig
Family Story
Once, before my Grandfather died, he was sleeping and my mom was there. Suddenly he woke up and looked at the end of his bed and was saying “Who’s that? Who’s that?” Mom asked him what he saw and what he was doing. He just looked at her and asked her who it was again. Mom told him there was no one there.
When he realized there wan’t anybody there, he told mom about something that happened during the war. He and three other men were the first line that was moving in on an attack out ion a field. They were all walking when all of a sudden a lady dressed in white, with a big top hat and two dogs on leashes, were standing beside them, they all think it was there guardian angel out there to protect them. He swears that that same lady was at the end of his bed. He only got to tell mom that because he took a spell and he died a few days later. His name was Wallace Gass but every one called him Mike Gass.
Michael Gass
Dad and 1
I don’t know what I would have done if I didn’t have a dad. When I was growing up we were best buddies, always doing something together. He took the time to teach me to fish and hunt.
He must of trusted me because I started carrying a gun when I was seven and he let me shoot all the birds unless I didn’t see them. When I was ten he let me shoot my first deer. We’ve had a lot of experiences together. Once we were fishing behind an island on Oromocto Lake and it was nice and calm there. When we got in the open the waves were huge. We only had a little twelve foot boat and the Lake is nine miles long. The waves started to fill the boat. It wasn’t to much later and the boat went under. I had a life jacket on and we were able to get on top of the boat. We were a long ways from shore but we started to swim to shore. It took some time but we finally got to shore. We were not far from a camp so we went there and someone was there and they took us home.
This is just one experience I have had with my dad.
Shannon Cleghorn
My Grandfather
My grandfather is an old man now, but battling with cancer hasn’t stopped him from living. He is well now and very much alive. I don’t want to lose him or stories of his past, so I will try, to keep at least one.
When Papa was barely twenty-one, he was sent to Europe as a soldier for World War Two and one of his duties was digging trenches. He dug for a while, then, tired and hungry, he left his shovel standing while he lay down to rest. He barely notices his shovel being moved backward slightly, and didn’t acknowledge the sniper on top of a nearby church, picking off soldiers one by one. As Papa got up to dig again, he saw a bullet in the handle of his shovel. At that moment, the sniper on the nearby church was shot by one of Papa’s comrades.
Many other stories tell of Papa’s close calls and bravery. He is truly a soldier of the war – and
of life.
Crystal Craig
Family Story
Once, before my Grandfather died, he was sleeping and my mom was there. Suddenly he woke up and looked at the end of his bed and was saying “Who’s that? Who’s that?” Mom asked him what he saw and what he was doing. He just looked at her and asked her who it was again. Mom told him there was no one there.
When he realized there wan’t anybody there, he told mom about something that happened during the war. He and three other men were the first line that was moving in on an attack out ion a field. They were all walking when all of a sudden a lady dressed in white, with a big top hat and two dogs on leashes, were standing beside them, they all think it was there guardian angel out there to protect them. He swears that that same lady was at the end of his bed. He only got to tell mom that because he took a spell and he died a few days later. His name was Wallace Gass but every one called him Mike Gass.
Michael Gass
Dad and 1
I don’t know what I would have done if I didn’t have a dad. When I was growing up we were best buddies, always doing something together. He took the time to teach me to fish and hunt.
He must of trusted me because I started carrying a gun when I was seven and he let me shoot all the birds unless I didn’t see them. When I was ten he let me shoot my first deer. We’ve had a lot of experiences together. Once we were fishing behind an island on Oromocto Lake and it was nice and calm there. When we got in the open the waves were huge. We only had a little twelve foot boat and the Lake is nine miles long. The waves started to fill the boat. It wasn’t to much later and the boat went under. I had a life jacket on and we were able to get on top of the boat. We were a long ways from shore but we started to swim to shore. It took some time but we finally got to shore. We were not far from a camp so we went there and someone was there and they took us home.
This is just one experience I have had with my dad.
Jim
Source: Rev. Bill Randall’s “From The Scrapbook Vol. One.”
