The CASE Of a Hero

S

Sowbelly270

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Jun 7, 2010
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He was born on a farm in northeast Colorado where he lived until he was a teenager when his family moved to a farm in northwest Missouri. At the beginning of WW11 he joined the US Navy and remained throughout WW11. Upon his discharge from the Navy he returned to Northwest Missouri where he worked as a milk man. In 1954 he moved to Kansas and worked as a delivery driver for Dr Pepper for a while. At this point he began his true calling as a carpenter and cabinet maker. If it was made out of wood he could make it and if it wasn't perfect it didn't leave his shop. In the mid 1960's he began collecting bottles that he would go and dig up. By the mid 1970's he had quite the collection but decided that it was time to collect something else. So he sold off all of his bottles and began collecting knives. He had Keen Kutters, Robensons, Hen and Roosters, Remington's, Schrade's, Boker's Queen's, and many others. then there was the Cases, man did he have the Cases. Eventually he decided that he wanted to collect something else so he sold the knives and went on to straight razors and barber bottles and then onto postcards and several other collections always selling the prior in order to pay for the next.

Starting in the mid 1970's, throughout all of the collecting, he only carried one knife (and yes he was a knife guy , if he had his pants on the knife was in his pocket and he was known to say "I just don't understand a man that doesn't carry a knife"). The knife he carried was a 64 to 69 era Case 5387 stockman. The stag was worn smooth from all the years of carry and it had that deep buttery hue to it. the blades were gray except for the shine of the very keen edge. All blades were tight and the pen blade was worn down to a toothpick from the years of sharpening. the other two blades were almost full, the pen was his favorite to use.

Who was this man and who's hero: my grandpa, my hero


Have a great day,
Jeff
 
Great story! It was joy of reading, through a man´s life who was actually a hero. :)
 
Your grandpa sounds like a wonderful guy. You were lucky to have him and we are not counted lucky ourselves from having heard about him here in your post. Thank you for your fitting memorial to your grandpa.

Ed J
 
Great story Sowbelly270 - thanks for sharing :thumbup:
Reminds me a little of my own Grandpa :)
 
You're very lucky Jeff, I never had the privilege to know either of my grandfathers, I'd like to think they were like yours though.
Thanks
 
russde said:
You're very lucky Jeff, I never had the privilege to know either of my grandfathers, I'd like to think they were like yours though.
Thanks
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I only met my father's father, my mothers father died when she was ten years old of complications from obesity and smoking. The stories you hear later in life about these men solidify the legend, fulfilling the ideals we had of them in our young eyes. I am very grateful to have known my dziadziu, or the way we pronounced it, jah-jee (Polish for grandfather). First generation American, valedictorian at his high school, star basketball player in high school and college. Hard worker, father, grandfather. Helped to raise and put his siblings, wife's siblings and nephews, my father and his siblings through school. All around one heckuva grandfather, the only one I know but he was the best as far as I'm concerned. Jeff, reading your OP about your grandpop, I began to think of mine. He was unable to join the Army, probably a good thing, as the family story goes, my great grandfather narrowly missing being decapitated by a machine gun in WW2. However, he was my hero. He drove a delivery route for some time, retired when I was in middle school. MANY family tales about his escapades, but they were made of sterner stuff back then.

Again, Jeff, thanks for sharing.
 
I love this place..and Jeff...your story is another reason why! Your grandfather is the kind of man that made this country great.
 
Great story Jeff! I bet it would have been nice to buy him a replacement I still have my grandfathers Barlow that he gave me around 25 years ago. the blades are worn from him using an electric sharpener.
 
Cool, Jeff, thanks for sharing that with us. :thumbup:
My grandfather was also a hero for me, and like you, I have his pocket knife now that he's passed. It's a joy and a comfort to have it, as a physical reminder of all the intangible gifts he's left me.
 
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I love when someone tells a story about their Grandfather as it makes me reflect on mine. I will have a better day for it. Thanks for sharing.
 
Thanks guys. He gave me that knife, for my birthday, five years before he died. I will never forget opening the package and seeing what was inside. He said that he wanted to give it to me before he lost it or something happened to it. He also used a finish hammer that his mom gave him when he was a boy. He always said that if anything happened to that hammer he would have to quit because he had always used that hammer. When he died I got that hammer. These two items are my most prized possesions. There are so many memories of watching him use his knife and hammer. I did, after he gifted me the knife, get him a replacement, two in fact. A brown jigged delrin 3387 and a burnt barnboard 6390. He carried the 6390 stocman up until he died. He passed away in 2010 and there is not a day that goes by that I don't miss him.

Have a great day,
Jeff
 
Great post Jeff, I really enjoyed reading it. Thanks for sharing. What part of Kansas are you in?
Jim
 
Great post Jeff, many thanks for sharing it with the rest of us :)
 
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