A Visit with Great-Grandpa and Grandma Christensen

A few days before we were to go home, Cooper and I visited my grandparents, just the two of us.  It's not very often in our large family, and since we live so far away, that we get them all to ourselves.  This was a special treat!  As we were driving to their house, I was explaining who it was we were going to visit.  I told him it was his Great-Grandparents that had been at the Halloween party a few days earlier.  Coop said, "Oh, not my old Grandpa and Grandma, my NEW ones!"  Thought that was so cute that he called them "new" instead of "old," since by age they're the oldest grandparents he has.  This was probably the first time he had any memory of who they were, since he's been so young every time he's seen them up until now.  I told them what he said, and they were tickled by it.  As I post these pictures, Cooper is sitting here next to me, and just said, "Oh, it's my NEW Grandpa and that fun truck!"  So cute.

It was a beautiful fall day, and so we spent some time in their beautiful backyard, where I have so many childhood memories.  Cooper LOVES this manual-powered truck.  His Great-Grandfather pushed him up the hill, and Coop rode down several times.  I had my turn pushing him up the hill several times as well--worth it to hear his little gleeful giggle as he rode down the hill.

I snapped a quick video of Grandpa pushing Cooper, Coop riding down the hill, and Grandma watching.  Priceless.

We visited with them for about 5 hours, having a delicious lunch of stuffed green peppers prepared by Grandma.  I shared with her my first memory of having stuffed peppers, which was when she came to stay with us when my mom delivered either Chelsey or Cassady.  It was the first time I remember liking them.  She said that was funny because her first recollection of having stuffed peppers was when her mother had a baby, and her aunt came to stay a few days and made stuffed peppers for dinner.  What a crazy coincidence.

Cooper and Grandpa played marbles with the marble track that is as old as my father.  Grandma told me they were given this marble track as a gift when my dad was about Cooper's age, and she thought at the time what a silly gift it was, and thought that the children probably wouldn't even play with it.  Among my Dad and his siblings, us grandkids, and now the great-grandkids, this toy has been and still is THE #1 toy the kids play with.  In fact, many of the great-grandchildren call these grandparents "Grandma and Grandpa Marbles" because of this fun marble track at their house.

I never seem to take pictures of the women in my family.  Grandma and I were busy getting lunch ready, and then visiting about piano lessons, since I was soon to receive a free piano from Nate's step sister, Abby.  Grandma was sure to quiz me on my notes and rhythms/counting.  She was pleased to discover that after all these years of only playing piano a few times a year when I visited my parent, I'd retained much of what she'd taught me when I was young (I started taking piano from her when I was 7).  Grandma gave me some of her piano teaching materials she's published, so I can re-teach myself a few things.  But I did reassure her that thanks to her great teaching, "It's all still stored in my brain; just gotta clear away a few cobwebs."  Grandma grinned at that.

During lunch Grandpa told several stories/experiences about his service in the Navy during WWII on the USS Roi as a radar technician.  Since we'd recently visited an aircraft carrier in Charleston, and I'd taken pictures of Cooper in the radar room and such, I shared the pictures with Grandpa, since I thought I'd remembered he worked in the radar room during his service.  He told me the pictures we have show some of the exact equipment he used to work on.  I also had a picture of Cooper in what Grandpa called "the Pilot's briefing room."  This jogged from his memory an experience of two Christmas Eves while he was in service--his 1st and 2nd Christmas Eves away from home.

The first Christmas Eve the aircraft carrier was docked in San Diego, and he was given liberty to go on land. He had searched for an LDS function to attend that night, but finding none, accepted an invitation from some other guys to go to a Christmas Eve sermon at a church of another Christian faith.  He said it was one of those Pentecostal kind of sermons, and the preacher invited all in attendance to come to the front, kneel, and repent of their sins.  Grandpa didn't go up to the front, and he was the only one.  The preacher kept heckling him about being a sinner and needing to repent.  Grandpa finally relented, and went to the front and knelt down, but was only there for a few seconds when he felt the Spirit tell him to LEAVE NOW.  He got up, grabbed his coat, and walked out quickly, with the preacher shouting at him from behind.  He said he never felt more uncomfortable from a spiritual standpoint than he did at that moment, and he remembered the feeling even to this day.  He went back his barracks, and spent the remainder of the evening alone.  He said it was very lonely, especially being Christmas Eve, and he was extremely homesick.

The next Christmas Eve they were docked in Guam, I think, or it may have been Hawaii mainland.  I can't recall exactly.  Anyway, he had been in contact with the ship's Chaplain, and the Chaplain invited him to a Christmas Eve service.  Grandpa went and enjoyed the service.  After the service he was walking away alone, when he heard someone call out, "Christensen!"  He turned around to see another ship's Chaplain, who was motioning to him.  This Chaplain was Mormon, and had been asked by the First Presidency of the Church to call LDS group leaders for each group of LDS servicemen on each ship.  This brother called Grandpa to be the LDS Group Leader on his aircraft carrier, which he served the remainder of his time in service.  Through this calling, he came to find out there were six other members of the church serving on his aircraft carrier.  With permission of the Captain and ship's Chaplain, they were able to hold Sacrament services every week in the Pilot's briefing room, which is why what picture sparked his memory of these experiences.

The last experience he told me was that because of his association with the Chaplain of his ship, who knew the Chaplain of several other ships, and who found out Grandpa's brother Rio was serving on another aircraft carrier, was able to arrange a meeting when they were stationed on an island 180 miles off the coast of Japan near the end of the war.  He hadn't seen his brother in years, and it was a welcome meeting.  Rio took Grandpa across the island, and showed him through binoculars a building with a plane parked outside it.  All Grandpa could see was the top part of the tail wing of the plane.  Rio told Grandpa that something top secret was going on with this particular plane, and that he'd always been asked to deliver parts/help with mechanical repairs on planes on the island, but with this particular aircraft, he was only asked to deliver some packages at a security gate, but never let inside the gates.  Rio suspected something was up, but wasn't sure what.  It was only a few days/weeks later that the first atomic bomb was dropped on Japan.  Later when Grandpa saw pictures in the newspaper of the plane that carried the bomb, it was in fact the same plane Rio had showed him that day.  It is a special memory to Grandpa.

All these memories were recalled due to a few pictures I'd shown him of an old aircraft carrier.  I'm glad to have these experiences recorded.  We ended up staying over an hour later than I'd planned for our visit, but I didn't want to leave.  I just wanted to stay and listen to Grandma and Grandpa tell stories.  They are so special to me.  Grandpa just turned 89, and I think Grandma is 87.  I am thankful to be their oldest granddaughter and have MANY fond memories of my grandparents, and to know them so well.  It is hard for me to live so far away, knowing their days on this earth are probably numbered, which makes visits like this priceless to me.