I have always thought of my grandfather as a farmer, and he was. I pictured him in my mind wearing coveralls and wielding a shovel while irrigating his crops, or driving a tractor. After all, that’s what my father did, and my brother did, and I did in the summers, before I escaped farm life.
Now, thanks to 8mm movie to DVD conversion, I have to rethink that mental image. Every time my grandfather is in the picture, he’s wearing a suit. Like this photo captured from a 1939 home movie, where he is watching his potatoes being planted, and he’s out in the field in a 3-piece suit. I asked my mom if grandpa always wore a suit, and she replied that was the way she always remembered him being dressed. I suppose I should picture my grandfather as a successful businessman, whose business just happened to be farming. Nowadays, I think we would call it agribusiness, because in addition to raising crops, he also co-owned with another partner a potato packing shed.
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