I Miss My Granparents Most at Thanksgiving

This is my mom's family back in the 70's. My Grandma and Grandpa Smith had 11 children. Their very first baby, a little girl named Margie died at birth. (I mention this because I want my children to remember this. I can't even imagine the pain of loosing your very first baby)My Grandma had Rheumatic fever when she was little. They said her heart was effected and that she should not have children...Obviously she had a lot of faith. I do have to say that it was this same heart that did fail and take her from this life when she was 58. (I was 10)
The thing I remember most about my grandparents was the feeling of being loved by them. They had many children and many more grandchildren and still they made you feel like you were the center of the universe. My Grandma would sit on the couch and set a child on each knee and then two more would sit on her feet and two more would sit beside her and hold on to her arms. She would talk with love and kindness and patience and even if you did something really bad like breaking the big fish aquarium with a pool ball (guess who did that?) She never yelled just talked sternly but with love always with love.
Grandpa owned the only grocery store in town. (This was awesome every kid should have a grandpa with a store. We got some sort of treat every time we saw him. Sometimes it was a choice of something from the penny candy row or sometimes we hit the jack pot and got to choose from a can of soda or an ice cream. Sometimes when my mom was in a hurry and we would wait for her in the car and Grandpa would come out and bring us a bag and hide it behind his back and pass it to us.)The family house was right next door. Grandpa would work 6 days a week. It was always closed Sunday. He would be at the store by 8am until it closed by 9pm and then he would drive his truck over to the bank across the street and was responsible to keep the bank employees safe by watching them until they were into their cars and and had driven away. He was one of the founding members of Draper Bank and Trust. He was fun to talk to and loved his family. He called all his grand kids "doll" that was your name. He would always hug and kiss you and tell you he loved you every time you saw him. Grandpa lived almost 20 years without grandma. He was around to see most of my children his Great grands.
I am so blessed to have them for my Grandparents!