Undated photo of John Joseph Patz. (Click to enlarge, 35K)

I don't know anything about the education of my grandparents or about any employment for my grandmother, Clara. I'm pretty sure she didn't work after she was married. My grandfather John served in the US Army during World War I, then went home with his bride to Buffalo. That didn't work out, so he brought her home to East Boston -- to an apartment, I think, just around the corner from her parents.

John worked as a "brickie" for Edison in South Boston, repairing the big boilers with the old yellow firebrick. My father, Edward, worked with him for several years, then went freelance after John died. Edward was always afraid that the brick dust at Edison had contributed to John's death.

John used to love playing solitaire after dinner, while having a drink and smoking a cigar. One of his favorite snacks was lard spread on bread and sprinkled with salt (ugh!). Nana (Clara) loved her radio "soaps." I remember them playing on the radio every time we visited them in the daytime. John and Clara lived just up Falcon Street from us, about 1½ blocks away. I don't ever remember either of them reading, or Nana doing any handwork besides mending. I think that having four kids kept her very busy!

They had a dog, a smelly old blond cocker spaniel named Queenie, and a parrot -- I think its name was Polly.

I don't remember much about my grandparents, because Nana died when I was 5 and Grampa just a few years later -- and so my memories are those of a young child. I know Nana had kidney trouble her whole adult life, and died of kidney failure. I don't ever remember my grandfather being sick, until he got cancer. He died of Hodgkins disease.