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Meet Bernard My 95 Year Old Friend

Another thank for sharing. My granny is 102 years old, and she's the one who reared us, since we had a working mother. She's physically quite feeble but refuses to use a wheelchair or any other thing. Only support she'll use will be a hand from one of us.

Mentally quite sharp still. Had she had a chance at proper education (girls were not meant to go to school in those days in India), she would have turned out a much more prominent figure.

My Granny can read and write and do basic math. That's it.

But she has one of the keenest minds i have ever encountered in terms of problem solving and cutting through the fluff and getting to the solution.

She is brilliant.

She raised me, and I am forever grateful.
 
I'm packing to leave for a trip to visit my wife's family in Indiana. I did call Bernard's son to convey all of the good wishes and gave him this URL so he could read it and convey it to Bernard. He will have to wait until his son visits again since his computer skills are nil. However, he will tell his Dad how much his story meant to us.
 
What a great read.

My Granny is 90 years old, and grew up where I was raised in a remote area of the Ozarks.

She was 13 the first time she ever went to town, which was an all day long trip requiring an overnight stay.

She knows how to make lye soap, medicines of various kinds from plants in the woods, and could always build anything she needed.

There was nothing in the woods she didn't know how to catch and eat. She was a fantastic gardener and canned a ton of stuff every summer.

She is physically a little feeble but still mentally sharp as a tack.

This is a picture of me and her taken a couple of weeks ago...


That smile says it all.
 
Jim, thanks for interviewing Bernard and letting us in on the conversation. It was great reading it and really made me miss my Gramps. He lived to 101 and I loved hearing him reminisce about growing up and going through the various wars in China. Bernard seems like a guy I would love to sit with for hours on end to just soak up his life lessons. God bless him.
 
A very good read. There's a lot we can learn from our elders, especially if they're as smart and humble as Bernard.
 
Thanks Jim for the very nice interview with Bernard.

For those who wish for more stories from WWII my thoughts are let it be. I'm certain that many who have given interviews about the war regretted doing so later on. Reliving times like that usually don't end when the interview is over.

Hearing Bernard talk about the changes during his lifetime reminds me of the final scene in the Planet of the Apes when Taylor sees what has become. A blessing to him that he can recall so much that has changed for the good and bad. Liked his point that he can get a decent shave with whatever is at hand.
 
Wow, reading this was a great way to start the day. If everyone in the world had a Bernard in their life it would be a much better place.
+1 ... as I was reading it I kept thinking to myself "Gee, I wish I had a friend like that!"

BTW, Jim, how did you meet Bernard in the first place?
 
Nice read except for the bit about the stubble look and "bums." I suppose it's to be expected due to the era in which he grew up, but I don't judge people based on their choice of facial hair. Some people cannot shave every day because of sensitive skin, skin conditions (I for example have psoriasis that has encroached on my neck and jawline recently as I battle an autoimmune disease flare-up), or irritation. Stubble has no bearing on a person's character.

It's sad that we are losing so many WW2 vets. I would love to talk to one as lucid as Bernard. I met one about a year ago in Wal Mart (he had one of those hats on identifying him as a vet) and he had a power wheelchair similar to mine. I asked if I could shake his hand and that it was an honor to meet a WW2 vet, but he was taken aback and rather shy. He just said "Uhhh, thank you son." I just let him go about his business without pressing him.
 
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