\nnor was he in The 3 Stooges. And given his receding hairline, that\u2019s the last thing anyone would call him. I just made up that name and you\u2019ll see why later.<\/span><\/p>\n
He died when I was 9, so I really didn\u2019t know him as well as I would have liked, but that\u2019s 9 more years than I got with my other grandfather, who died 3 days after I was born. My father used to tell me that he took one look at me and keeled over.<\/span><\/p>\n Here\u2019s a shot of Grandpa Kibbe from 1944 and one from a dozen years later, when his son Joseph – who was my godfather – got married to the lovely Rita:<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Grandpa – who served in WWI – loved his country and his cars\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u2026.and two-tone shoes, apparently\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026.<\/span><\/p>\n (These last two pix are from 1951 and 1944 when he was with his wife and 3 daughters – whom he also loved – in Atlantic City. Thumbs up on the wingtips and thumbs down on the saddle shoes, Gramps – too Catholic schoolgirly.)<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Forced labor at rolling-pin-point, however, was not among his loves:<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sometime during the mid-1960s, he was awarded this certificate posthumously by President Lyndon Johnson:<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n As mentioned above, he served in WWI. Here are two photos from that period. One is labeled \u201cWWI\u201d and the other just says \u201c1918\u201d:<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n I have one other picture from that time period that\u2019s undated, but mentions two related children and \u201cUncle Elmer\u201d:<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n This photo is from 1922 at an unknown location. Grandma and Grandpa are the first two people on the left in the top row. Everyone else are their relatives:<\/span><\/p>\n At around that time, Grandma was about 4 months pregnant with her first child (of 6), Eunice.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Since Eunice was born in mid-December, this undated picture is probably from 1923. Here\u2019s the new Mom and Dad (who\u2019s holding MY Mom):<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Thus concludes the non-Curly part of our show.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sounds-Unrelated-But-It’s-Not Department<\/span>: One of the reasons I originally took this apartment was that it came with its own storage room a couple of feet away. After 32 years – and after inheriting the family histories of my mother (as the eldest, she had it), my father (an only child, so he had his) and my own (I\u2019m the eldest) – it\u2019s pretty full. But due to yet another absolutely insane move by my landlord, I\u2019ve had to find a way to temporarily store most of it in my apartment, which now might qualify to be on the \u201cHoarders\u201d TV show.<\/span><\/p>\n The only positive out of all this is that I have a chance to go through it all and discover some pretty interesting\/unusual things I was unaware of.<\/span><\/p>\n FOR INSTANCE – I found an old photography studio portrait of my Grandpa Kibbe that I could not believe. He was born in 1895 and he looks to be 10 years old or under, so this is a 1900-1905 image.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Are you ready for this?<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n NOW do you understand the sudden nickname?<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n But this isn\u2019t even the weird part!<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n I also found a very old candy box that once held Norris Chocolates from Atlanta. The contents were mind-blowing:<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n From me, my siblings and dozens of cousins…………….thanks for the 115+ year-old surprise, Grandpa Curly!<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n (“Curly Kibbe” has kind of a nice rhyming\/rhythmic sound to it, don’t you think? It’s a lot cuter than what one of my ancestors did………naming a child “Green Leafe”!)<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n And to all those cousins: first, second, third\u2026\u2026\u2026once, twice or thrice-removed AND my siblings: I had you all in mind when I put this together since I\u2019m apparently the only one of us who had any interaction with the man.<\/span><\/p>\n He could be pretty grumpy at times, but you knew that deep down, he loved you.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n LATE ADDITIONS <\/span><\/strong>(November 25, 2020)<\/span>:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n This is what happens when you have a mountain of history to go through (there may be more).<\/span><\/p>\n I just found Grandpa\u2019s 1919 discharge papers in their leather folder:<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n And here\u2019s into whose arms he was discharged (that’s my grandmother?):<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n “I’d better marry this babe.”:<\/span><\/p>\n (I don\u2019t know what the story is with Grandma, the witnesses AND the priest all being Goldings)<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n There\u2019s actually an interesting story about this certificate I sent to a cousin recently:<\/span><\/p>\n Regarding the E&C Kibbe marriage certificate: I recall offering it to their kids when I found it and the only taker was Uncle Bill…………..but he didn’t want me to send it in its frame – just the certificate. No problem.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n When I pulled it out of its frame, I found that the cardboard backing had a drawing\/painting on it that had a semi-familiar look to it. I thought it might be a village on the Hudson River just south of the George Washington Bridge area (but maybe pre-GWB). It turned out to have been created by a local artist who was a member of the Hackensack Art Club a long time ago and was semi-known.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n I put it up on eBay and it went for $150! <\/em>:<\/span><\/p>\n Thanks, Gramps (and Uncle Bill)! :<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n SOMEBODY looks pretty happy about the first three late-addition images:<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Back to the curls thing:<\/span><\/p>\n I also just came across two black-and-white studio photos of me that were taken for my second and third birthdays AND something from the New York Mirror newspaper. Unbeknownst to me, my mother had submitted at least one of them to the paper\u2019s \u201cCharming Child Contest\u201d (I found a submission form taped to the back of one of them).<\/span><\/p>\n Apparently, I wasn\u2019t charming enough to win. I\u2019m guessing that the note from the paper was the their kind rejection notice.<\/span><\/p>\n I also found two hand-colored copies of those pictures and noticed that I hadn\u2019t had my first haircut by my second birthday, but did by my third. It reminded me of Annmarie\u2019s comment about saving children\u2019s hair. I haven\u2019t found any other hair collections, so maybe this was Mom\u2019s way of preserving my locks (which look somewhat gray to me\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026and the gray seems to have transferred to part of my face in the colored shot of me at three):<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Next late addition<\/strong> (December 28, 2020) – Grandpa\u2019s dogtags:<\/span><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/1-Grandpa-1944-Joe-Kibbes-Grandma-1956-min.jpg\")
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