Grandpa Regier

January 10, 2015 my Grandpa, Edwin J Regier, flew away home.  

He was 91.5 yrs young and I thought he would never leave us.  He couldn't after all.  He was healthy and strong.  Up until a year and a half ago he only took one baby aspirin every day, then when he turned 90 they had to find something wrong so they tried to curb his sweet tooth and said he was diabetic and gave him one more oral medication for that.  This is a man who put sugar on golden grahams cereal and loved chocolate covered cherries, homemade ice cream, apricot pie, root beer and pretty much anything Grandma made.  He used to tell us about how much weight he gained after marrying Grandma!  He also took credit for her good cooking saying that he ate everything she burned in the beginning and didn't complain so that she wouldn't get discouraged.  This is a man who was strong.  When he fell while chasing some dogs off their property last summer and dislocated his shoulder the medical staff initially tried to pop it back in without anesthesia but he had too much muscle.  When they explained this to him he grinned and flexed his other arm.  This man continued to farm using antique tractors until last summer when that same fall gave him issues with balance and when they asked him to stop driving his pickup for a while he was seen riding his lawn mower out to the field to watch his oldest son harvest soybeans.   

Growing up I was a Daddy's girl and a Papa's girl for sure.  Papa and I had birthdays only a few days apart and we used to celebrate together.  We took turns choosing the food Grandma would make.  Papa always chose fried chicken and I always chose spaghetti and meatballs.  I don't know why I chose that because Grandma's fried chicken was the best! My cousin Val was the only cousin older than me and she lived far away so I got lots of attention from my Papa.  He had nick names for almost everyone it seemed, or some kind of inside joke that he always referenced with them.  I was Laura Madora and because I was a string bean Papa always teased me that I was growing up too fast and if I didn't stop he was going to have to get out a brick and pound me down a bit.  (-:  For my mom, and in-law who didn't drink coffee until a few years ago, he always asked if she had gotten her coffee yet and early in her marriage to my dad he actually gave her a percolator coffee pot!  Grandpa went for coffee every morning, mostly at the Whistle Stop in Walton but on Monday mornings he went to McDonalds.  He knew so many people that most of the time when I was meeting someone all I had to do was mention his name and people would know who I was by association.

Grandpa loved music.  He played guitar as a young man and sang in a quartet but what I knew of him musically was his Banjo and the Country Jamboree that originally was made up of several of his friends and ended up containing mostly his sons and grandsons.  Music was a part of every gathering whether it was singing grace, usually "Thank the Lord with Bounteous Measure", or getting out the instruments and singing "Take me Back to Colorado", or old gospel or cowboy songs.  One of Grandpa's favorite songs was "Beulah Land" as sung by the Homestead Pickers at Silver Dollar City, one of his favorite vacation spots aside from Colorado.  I wasn't familiar with that song until after Grandpa flew away but one of my sweetest memories from the days after will always be of the uncles and cousins sitting in Grandma's living room and playing that beautiful song after only hearing it one time through.    

Grandpa loved bluegrass music and some of my favorite childhood memories are from going to the Walnut Valley Festival every September in Winfield, KS.  Grandma and Papa always went out first with their camper and got tent stakes for all the rest of us roping off just enough grass for all our tents and campers to fit.  

By the time Papa flew home he had 6 great grandchildren, three of them mine.  I told Luke that he was so lucky because he was the oldest Great grandchild and he got the most time with both of my Grandpas.  Most of the great-grandchildren are just babies but Luke will have lots of good memories with his great-grandpas.

These next few are from Luke's first wheat harvest.  Harvest is a lot of hard work but the Regiers knew how to make even their busiest time of year a lot of fun.  For the kids were were rides in the combines with our dads and in the grain trucks with Papa.  The Aunts and Grandma took turns making food to take to the field including lunch and break and then a huge supper for the whole extended family and many times guests as well as the crew.  After eating the kids would play in the wheat while the grown-ups talked and cleaned up and then it was home for a bath and bed.  Grandpa was probably the only one who could consistently get the canary yellow grain truck to work.

Each year when harvest was over we gathered at East Lake with sandwiches, chips and our ice cream freezers for Thresher's Ice Cream, a tradition for as long as I can remember, to celebrate the harvest and say thank you.  All the families as well as the hired help and the land lords were invited and we usually had 4-5 ice cream freezers full.  

Butchering was another important time of hard work and family fun.  Each year in the fall when it was good and cold all the families who wanted to would get together, shoot a few pigs and butcher them together, usually a 2 day process.  Sometimes the pigs were killed ahead of time but other times a family member or two did it.  The first day was mostly spent skinning the pigs and hanging them up.  The next day the meat was cut up or ground for sausage and packaged and the fat was rendered for lard and cracklings.  Traditionally Grandma made beef borscht for lunch on the second day since the first day usually was just the men and didn't require as many people but the second day everyone could help and usually the kids were around as well. 

Grandpa loved to restore old cars and tractors.  I remember taking rides in his restored Model T when I was a kid and many of us got rides for special occasions like weddings as well as just for the fun of it.  

Eventually Grandpa needed a place to store and work on all of these projects at home so the whole family got together and helped build a large shed on the property.  Luke and I went out to see the progress one day and Papa showed Luke all the big machines and what they were building.

I tried to bring the kids out frequently for tea and cookies with Grandma and Papa and if we were lucky and the weather was good we would take a ride in one of Papa's cars.  

Our family has traditions for everything, and Christmas is no exception.  When the gifts are given out Grandma and Papa read off the name on the gift and the person whose receiving the gift comes up and gives them both a hug and kiss and says thank you before sitting back down.  When everyone has their gift we open them all at once and then we go around the circle and show what we were given and say thank you again!  

I remember all my grandparents coming to my early childhood birthday parties and they also came to all of my kid's birthday parties, this is from Luke's first birthday.

And this is Papa eating a cupcake at Luke's third birthday party.

Papa always loved and appreciated Grandma so much and made sure his children and grandchildren knew it and did the same.  Grandma said he would always tell her that the food was good and say thank you after each meal, their kids and some of us grand-kids saw him give Grandma a morning smooch, we all heard over and over again about how Grandpa picked Grandma up with a bunch of other nursing students while dragging main street and how Grandma ended up sitting in the back seat that time but he made sure she never sat in the back again!  Every year we celebrated Mother's day with strawberry shortcake and ice cream.  This picture below is from 2011 when Aaron was a baby in Grandma's arms.

Papa and Grandma were there for us, for our every day life and for our big moments like graduations and weddings.  (Below is from Daniel and Sarah's wedding).

The pic below is from an Easter Gathering I think.  Each year Grandma would fill an Easter basket for each child and buy big Russel Stover chocolate eggs for the grown ups.  Then Grandpa would hide them for us to find.  I remember looking for our Easter Baskets at the old home place in the pine trees, times when the weather was stormy and Grandpa hid the baskets in the basement of their "new" place, and times when people needed extra help finding their egg or basket because they were hidden a little to well!  In the last few years Papa let some of the grandkids hide the baskets for him.

Papa liked to play Corn Hole with whoever was available.  Even when Luke was small he seemed to have a knack getting the bean bags in the hole and playing with his dad, Papa and Great-grandpa was a big treat for him.

  

Starting when Tim and Erin were babies the Regier family started a tradition of taking a vacation together.  Originally it was to Colorado to Chalk Lake or Brown's camp grounds.  Colorado was where Grandma and Papa usually took their own family for vacation each year with a homemade camper named Betsy (I remember using that same camper a few years when I was a kid before my dad and Dwight put together our own homemade camper and Betsy was retired).  This was unusual for a farming family to take vacations every year but Grandpa thought it was important to have fun as a family and take a break and he loved the mountains and often talked about how close to God he felt when he was there.  We went to Colorado every other year until 2007.  After that we had family vacations at East Lake or at Grandma and Papa's house almost every year.  We ate lots of good food, and played lots of games of Dutch Blitz, Giant Dutch Blitz, Corn Hole, etc.  Ken had a supper long tarp and we got out a hose and some dish soap and made a giant slip and slide.  We had water balloons and neon glow in the dark necklaces.  We made earings and necklaces and ate lots of Jelly Bellies!  We went fishing and hiking (when in Colorado).  And of course everyone brought their instruments and we made music together.  We also had devotions every day led by different children, often about nature and Colorado even when we were in Kansas. 

Above Papa enjoying conversation with Greg and below watching the water events in the shade.

making music...

One time when I was little my family went to hear Papa and the Jamboree play at the Whistle Stop.  After they were done Papa told me that he liked it when I sat in front listening and smiling at him and that it made him smile too.  After that I thought it was my job to smile at Papa while he played so he would remember to smile!

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Christmas 2011...

Just like so many other Christmases we gathered at Grandma and Papa's house for dinner, usually ham.  Papa and Grandma got everyone's attention and welcomed us all, saying how much they loved us, how blessed we were to have each other and so much love, and then we sang grace and Papa would pray.  

After the meal was all cleaned up we rearranged the furniture in the living room and crowded in.  Papa and Grandma sat in their recliners (a gift a different Christmas to replace some very well worn ones) and Papa reads the Christmas story from Luke and again prays and thanks God for his many blessings, especially his precious son.  After this we sing songs, little kids say memorized pieces and those who play instruments give a little recital.  When I was a kid sometimes this took a very long time as there were 23 grandchildren.  When all the music and pieces were done then it was time for presents as mentioned before and sometimes after that a wrapping paper fight would erupt during the clean up.  

Family picture...

After presents there was time for fun together and playing with our new toys.  This was Charlie's and Aaron's first Christmas.

Haig would often bring some toy from home, like a remote controlled helicopter or car that could go 60+ mph!  That year there was a rocket!

Of course there needed to be more music!  

A few more harvest pictures from various years...

Sarah was born last March and got less than a year with Papa.  She won't remember things on her own but we will show her pictures of both her great-grandpa's and tell her stories and she will know how much they loved her.  

(These pics are from this last summer, still using his antique tractor!)

 Sarah and Luke and Aaron will grow up with parents and grandparents who learned important lessons from Papa Regier and Papa Bartel.  Lessons about faith in God, love for family, working hard and playing hard.  There wasn't a time that I saw my Papa Regier that I didn't get at the very least a smile with a twinkle in his eye and usually a hug and a kiss and an, "I love you!" too.  He made every day count.