Remembering "Pops"

May 25, 2023

I am remembering and honoring my paternal grandfather ("Pops") today on his birthday. He passed away in 1983, close to his 82nd birthday. 

On his birthday in 2020, I decided to search online, using his name and where he lived, to see if there was anything about him that I could find. I am still shocked by what I found, which I purchased back in 2020.

 Someone on eBay was selling a matchbook (without matches) from the 1940s from the Texaco service station that my grandfather owned and operated from the 1940s until the late 1970s on Wellwood Avenue in Lindenhurst, Long Island, New York. My father had a bicycle repair business there when he was in his early teens.

My grandfather came to the United States from Porto, Portugal, when he was a teenager. He initially was a construction worker who helped build many of the highways on Long Island. In the 1950s, he established a real estate and house appraisal business. I remember going on appraisals with him as his "helper" when my age was in single digits.

My grandfather was also in the Merchant Marines.

When I was young, I often heard him say, "When I came to this country, they called me 'Spic.' Now, they call me 'Mister.'" He was very proud of that.

It's nice to have this Texaco memory and my many other memories of Pops.