Grandpa Van

After reading the information Sherry sent about my Grandfather Van Dalsem, I wanted to tell you how I remember him.

Grandpa Van was a tall thin man I recall him as being about 6 feet tall with gray hair and a gray mustache. For some reason I only recall him wearing dark suits. This could be due the fact we mostly saw him on Sunday afternoons or holidays, or he wore suits most of the time because he was a school teacher.

As children we would always try to get him to wiggle his ears at the dinner table. He could wiggle both of them at the same time. After dinner he would play checkers with the children or take them for a walk. We love to go for walks with him. But best of all were rides in his Model T Ford. He would take on a drive up to Mullholden Drive above the lights of Los Angeles. Once on a sunny afternoon he took my brother David, sister Judy and myself to the beach. My brother and sister pulled me scared to death into the waves, kicking and crying the whole time. I was bout 4 years old, they were 10 and 8. Some how my Grandpa Van was hit by a wave and knock down suit and all. When we got home we were all in hot water because we were all in our good clothes. The clothes were dry by then but full of sand.

In the back of their home was as 6 car garage divide into 3 units with a door between each area. Cars were kept in the first two units and the last unit was my Grandpa Vans wood working shop. There he would use a lay to do wood turning making bowls, candy dishes, and even table legs. He did beautiful work. He taught woodworking at a local high school, Horus Mann, and he made movie set and designed things for the sets.