For this week's Forget Me Not Friday feature, since this weekend is Father's Day, I thought I'd post a photo that includes my father, Ken Testorff, my Uncle, Russel Testorff, and my grandfather, Leonard Testorff.
That's my father on the far left (wasn't he cute?!), then my uncle, and then my Grandpa Testorff. I always called him Grandpa T. My parents were divorced when I was very young, so I didn't get see my grandparents a lot after that because we moved across the country. But we always kept in touch and he and my grandma were always very near in my heart. He was a musician--he loved his fiddle, and he was even part of more than one band over the years. Grandpa T was somewhat of a celebrity, I'd say. :)
All three of the Testorff men were born and raised in Oswego, Labette County, Kansas. I love that the boys are wearing bib overalls in this photo. I'm not sure of the exact year of this photo, but my dad looks to be about 10-12 here, so that would put it between 1953-55, or thereabouts. It was likely taken in my grandparents yard. And just to show that my grandpa had a funny side too, here's another photo that was taken the same day.
You can tell that he was just hamming it up for the camera. But that's why I love it. Grandpa always wrote wonderful letters and always had some wisdom to share with me. He was a wonderful grandfather. I'm fortunate that one year he sent me a cassette tape of him and his "Over the Hill Gang" band playing music. That was about 25 years ago. Just last year I had that cassette transferred to a CD so that I could listen to it again. I saved it on my computer too. So any time I want to feel a little bit closer to Grandpa T, I just have to turn on his music...and there he is.
Miss you, Grandpa.
