Grandma Henke

Grandpa Babcock was such a fun grandpa. He was probably around 5 feet 8 inches … that’s a guess. He had a shiny, bald head and on his forehead there was a big dent that ran from the top down to one side. I never did find out what caused that for sure because he told me a different story every time I asked him. It looked like a horse had kicked him.

He was the biggest tease. He would chase us little girls and try to eat our ears, sneak up on us and pretend he was going to steal the treats Grandma would give us. I loved to sit on his lap in “his” chair that no one else sat in but him and talk to him … because he really listened. He would laugh at my silly knock knock jokes and tell me silly stories of his own.

Grandma Babcock was such a delicious cook. She used to work at Hotel Utah as a waitress and she knew all their delicious recipes plus dozens of her own by heart. Grandma was also short, and slim. She wore black shoes with a square 2 inch heel and dresses. She always wore pretty house dresses instead of the Levi’s and T-shirts we grandmas wear now days. And an apron … don’t forget the apron! She wore the kind that tied around her neck … and she had pretty ones she made herself. She had pretty, curly dark hair.

When Grandma mopped her kitchen floor she bent at the waist, wearing her 2 inch heel shoes, and mopped it by hand. She said she did it to prove she could. The last time I saw her do that she was in her eighties.

When I was little Grandma and Grandpa had a game they always played whenever we went to visit. Grandma would stash candy bars in her underwear drawer for when us kids would go visit. She’d wait until Grandpa was in another part of the house and then whisper to us to sneak into her bedroom with her. We’d get so excited and look around to make sure Grandpa wasn’t watching … which he conveniently never was … and we’d all slip into her bedroom. Grandma would shut the door and take us to her dresser where she’d open the door and tell us to take our pick. Just as we got our candy Grandpa would open the door and jump into the room shouting, “What are you doing, woman! Giving those kids my candy bars again? Give me those candy bars!”

Grandma would say, “Run kids, and off we’d go squealing with Grandpa close behind growling and demanding we give him his candy back. Finally Grandpa would grab his chest and pretend he was totally out of breath and grumble his way to his chair saying something like, “Darn kids, always in the way, stealing my candy.” It was the highlight of our visit. I would always go sit on his lap and share with him … and surprisingly, he never really did eat much of it.

Going to Grandma and Grandpa Babcock’s was so much fun. They had a fun front porch with a thick rock wall around it that we would sit on, a sloping front lawn we would tumble down, and a long driveway we could skate on. I love to think of those days and the love from my grandparents who have now been gone for forty years. I wish my grandchildren knew them … they would have loved them too!

Grandpa was an excellent carpenter. He made Mom’s kitchen cupboards when I was just a little girl. There is a good story about our coal stove and the sawdust during that remodel that I will have to tell another time.