I remember my grandpa, my mom’s dad, as a person who spoke few words. Yet, we knew he loved and cared for us — his family, his wife, his grandchildren. He was tall in my eyes. He was actually so tall, I had to look way up on those occasions when he did speak.
My grandpa held the same job for his entire career. He was a truck driver for the A&P grocery chain and proud union member. He went to work so early in the morning that he had to go to bed at 7 p.m. every night.
In all of his years of driving, he never received a ticket or was in an accident. One year he entered a contest in which he competed with other truck drivers from across Michigan. His driving skills won him a first place trophy, which he proudly displayed in the living room for the rest of his life.
My grandpa was smart. But because his parents were farmers, he was forced to quit school at a young age to work on the farm. He didn’t like to talk about his lack of a formal education. I think he was embarrassed. But when I was struggling with math homework, he was ready to help and he was good at it.
There was one activity that connected us. My grandpa loved the Reader’s Digest magazine. He especially loved sitting in his overstuffed brown upholstered chair and doing the word puzzles.
This chair had giant armrests. I loved to sit on the armrest, with him in the chair, solving the puzzles together. I learned to enjoy reading the same condensed stories that he did, laughing at the same jokes. It’s funny that a 10-year-old girl and her grandpa could find common interests in the Reader’s Digest, but we did.
My children never met their great grandpa. He died before I was married. But my grandpa would have been so proud of his great grandchildren’s love for knowledge and their pursuit of education. After high school, all four of them went to college.
College is expensive. All four were able to get scholarships and work during college. My husband Doug and I were committed that they would graduate debt free, and we did the best we could to help. We even rented rooms in our house to help pay the bills.
But by the time our youngest, Hannah, was entering college we were tapped out financially. Her freshman year, we’d have three kids in college. We didn’t know what we would do or how we would pay the bills.
When Hannah received word that she was accepted to Macalester College, she was offered a generous scholarship: the Dewitt Wallace Scholarship. It was good for all four years of college. We couldn’t believe her good fortune. We breathed huge sighs of relief. Dewitt Wallace, whoever he was, was our lifesaver. But who was he? We Googled him.
Dewitt Wallace was the co-founder, along with his wife Lila Bell Wallace, of the Reader’s Digest. The very same man who had brought me together with my grandpa, now played a huge role in my daughter’s education.
Dewitt Wallace brought three generations of our family together. He had such a huge impact on our lives. I am so thankful to him.
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