Family history Friday: Grandpa Newland

Istiqlál (Independence), 7 Jamál (Beauty), 169 BE – Friday, May 4, 2012 about 6:45 PM Pacific Time

I remember many things about my Grandpa Newland. Grandpa was bald and he would let us rub his baldhead. My mother said that when she was a child she remembered sitting on his lap and rubbing his baldhead.

Grandpa drank coffee. Every day he would make a pot of coffee and when he finished the one pot of coffee, he would make another. Grandpa poured the first cup of coffee I ever drank; at least I think he poured it. Anyway, the cup contained a little bit of coffee with a lot of cream and sugar.

Another thing I remember about Grandpa was that he smoked cigarettes. I remember Grandpa telling me that he began smoking at 13 years old. I also remember Grandpa rolled his own cigarettes. I remember his sitting at the kitchen table rolling cigarettes. I also remember sitting by Grandpa’s hospital bed when he was dying of cancer.