Grandpa....tell me 'bout the good ol' days...

.....sometimes it feels like, this world's gone crazy. Grandpa, take me back to yesterday, when the line between right and wrong, didn't seem so hazy. (One of my favorite Judd's songs). My Grandpa Sullivan would have been 109 years old today.

I had the chance a few years back to sit down with my grandparents and record a little bit of their history. I was also asked to speak, in behalf of all the grandchildren, at his funeral. I'd like to share a little bit from my talk.....

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"As Nephi of old, my grandpa was born of goodly parents -- He was born the 9th of 12 children to William Duncan Sullivan Sr. and Mary Ann McMullin on Feb. 23, 1902 in Leeds, Utah. His growing days and school years were spent there. He learned how to work at a young age spending many days on the road peddling fruit. He learned honesty and hard work from his father who was known for these traits. He put his trust in grandpa at a young age as he gave him a lot of responsibility in his freighting business. He met my grandma, Ada Workman in Hurricane when he was 18. She was only 15 at the time. They were married the next year, Sept. 16, 1922.

Some of their early married days were spent at Iron Springs. During this time, Grandpa really proved what he was made of as he showed his boss there that he was a hard worker and could handle any responsibility and could be trusted. Grandpa was always willing to try to improve his lot in life as he ventured into the cattle business. Buying cattle made a good living for his family for 25 years. My grandparents had 6 children: Twila, Melba, Hal, Glenna, Wes and Dee. They were no strangers to heartache in their young years as Twila was taken from them when she was burned on the morning of Dec. 30, 1930.

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Grandpa soon needed more land. He wasn't one to stand still so they moved to St. George and bought a farm. He and grandma loved St. George and had lots of good friends. They had many good times in the Vesta Club where they went to dance and square dance.

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The next move would be to Cedar city to go into the cafe business. (Sullivan's Cafe.) With his background of hard work and determination, they made it work. Grandpa always said, "If I had the time and the money, I'd get me some race horses". He did just that...that too was a success and gave him lots of hours of enjoyment and satisfaction in those retirement years. I got to go to Prescott, Arizona to the horse races. He always drove a great big ol' Cadillac but was pretty frugal with some things. We stayed in a dumpy old hotel instead of a really nice one with a swimming pool. Huge dissapointment!!!! Grandpa said "There's only 2 things I haven't done in life.....fail at anything and fall off a horse."

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Some of my favorite memories were going up to their cafe on Sunday afternoons, sitting up to the bar and ordering a BLT....they had the best salad dressing on it. I later came to learn they used Mayo....all I ever knew was Miracle Whip. I also loved snooping around their apartment above the cafe....finding treasures. Lots of times my grandma would let me keep what I found. I guess that's why I encourage my little ones to snoop...it is such great fun.

My grandpa was a generous man and helped out when needed. He paid a whopping $250 for our wedding...and we were so very grateful. Grandpa Sullivan, I honor you this day on your birthday. I'm so glad I got to know you.