GRANDPA

Alva H. Rich (or Alva Hatch Rich, or Alva A Rich, or Alva Alexander Rich -~

it's all the same) *

~ He was born in OCTOBER, and he died in OCTOBER ~

Before I say goodbye to October, I want to say a few things about my Grandpa.
Every October I stop for a few minutes and remember my Grandpa Rich. Grandpa was born in October and also died in October. I loved my Grandpa. Here are just a few facts about him. My childhood home was built behind my Grandpa's house. Grandpa and my Dad built the house. It was very well built. Grandpa and my dad were great carpenters. Because we lived on the same property, I saw my grandpa almost every day for the first eighteen years of my life. Never once did I see him upset about anything. I just remember him as such a nice person. I was never disciplined by grandpa. I am sure I needed lots of corrections, but I only felt his love for me. Grandpa was tough. If he was building something, and scraped his skin and if the cut would draw blood, he'd just ignore it. If I pointed it out to him he would say: "Oh, I don't let a little thing like that bother me." And he didn't. It was my grandparents who took me to church. Grandpa was called as ward clerk, and in those days the ward clerk sat on the stand and took minutes at Sacrament Meeting. Grandpa would have me type up the minutes for the church records. He even bought a new state-of-the-art typewriter for me. As I result, of "my assignment", I became a pretty good typist. Grandpa was friendly. I remember Grandpa always greeting the teenage girls at Church. While many would just pass the youth in the halls, and not acknowledge them, Grandpa would always greet them and ask: "Are you still my girl?" Grandpa was a horseman. I loved horses. I remember the day he got a new horse. He let me choose the name for the horse. I named the horse Molly Bee. Grandpa was a good gardener. I remember learning so much about how to grow a garden from Grandpa. Grandpa came from pioneer stock. His great grandfather was Charles Coulson Rich, who served as an Apostle, called by Brigham Young. Sadly, Grandpa got hooked on alcohol, and for the first years of my grandparents marriage that was a problem. I never saw this side of my Grandfather, because he "took the cure" as it was called in those days, and never looked back. However, I have heard many stories of the drinking days - like the times Grandma would go drag Grandpa out of bars, or the time Grandma came home to find the horse in the kitchen, etc.. I guess I could go on and on but I just wanted to note that I always think of Grandpa during the month of October. Maybe next October I'll make some more notes. It's fun to remember him. Grandpa was a good man!

* Grandpa was named after his maternal grandfather whose name was Alva Alexander Hatch. Supposedly, because it was going to be confusing, Grandpa was to go by Alva A. Rich (A. for Alexander, then H. for Hatch, on and on.) Though it's caused some confusion, he will always Grandpa to me.