Kevin Boyce
My grandmother had a frugal and very effective way of making a penny bleed, or stretch the dollar! She loved her yard/garage sales where she would find (what she thought) as an amazing deal or a real steal for minimal cost and the various arts & crafts she worked on during her retirement age. Her 3rd Husband, Carol, had worked many, many years in Chrysler's Lordstown, Ohio auto-plant as a "Tool and Die Maker" for Chrysler and related Mopar vehicles. He was making really good UAW-affiliated union wages for the 1970's, 1980's and 1990's... He would get our entire family (of 3) entrance tickets for his yearly shop picnics, usually held at the former Geauga Lake amusement park, in Geauga county, Ohio, south of Cleveland and across the small lake, from what once was 1 of 3 Sea World parks, in Ohio, Fl, and CA ...ALL complete with 2 Orca Whales (Shamu and mamu) and many other sea creatures otters, sea lions etc. or he would get us tickets to Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio. We would arrive before the park opened and stay the entire day until the park closed at night!! She had 7 cheap rental properties in and around the Carnation City of Alliance, Ohio, and is Near by to the "Pro Football Hall of Fame" located in Canton). While I was growing up, I remembered her Ice cooler-packed Bologna and cheese sandwiches and the cherry Jell-o with fruit cocktail mixed inside for those shop picnics... along with a potato or macaroni salad of some sort... I also remember her driving a brand new Chrysler, Dodge or Plymouth brand of vehicle every single year, a perk that his Career had provided them... I remember the 21 foot satellite dish and reciever and the $1,200.00 dollar+ Phillips brand VHS-VCR (a huge beast of a top-loading VHS machine) that received only 13 stations,but each one manually had to be tuned in, to get a decent signal that he originally demanded to have, when those technologies were brand new and still in its infancy (and placed on the commercial market by manufacturers for both VHS & Beta-max standards)... I remember watching 9 to 5 about 50x on it... starring Dolly parton, Jane Fonda, Dabney Coleman and Lilly Tomlin... which she quietly and personally didn't care for certain scenes in it... and never really watched it with me. I remember how she and Carol would make different sized and shaped mailing containers from stock cardboard for her Grace Cathedral Church propaganda in multiple forms, with cassette, 8-track tapes, 12 inch vinyl records, as well as many books of various sizes all referencing the bible and scriptures or the Preacher's interpretation of the scriptures into layman's terms or the churches choir singing praises... and how me, her once, only grandson was literally spoiled rotten every single Christmas with something I really wanted during that year ... a few examples... an Atari 2600 home entertainment system, along with a few games... or a Black Bikers Leather Jacket with the big silver snaps and leather belt... or a 12-speed 26" bicycle... I also remember the "chair of plenty" where I could get literally "anything" i wanted to eat at any time... if I wanted a cheese burger & fries... she would prepare it for me... ice cream on a cone... she would scoop it up ...also remember later on, in her life and how she would drive her car from Alliance, Ohio to Atlanta, GA and not remember how exactly she had gotten there, to her Daughter's, her daughters husband and Joyce's second grandson, arriving at their home after driving the 8-10 hour trip without incident!! I remember how after a car accident she got a broken arm and a couple of cracked ribs... bedridden, unable to breathe a full breath and her laying there in severe pain (she didn't believe in man-made medicine and never took anything prescribed to her and how she physically responded, either by the Holy spirit or her endless faith in God after a telephone prayer from the churches preacher who prayed for her to heal quickly... after which, she got up and cleaned (and vacuumed) her entire 2 story home like nothing ever happened. I remember how she had Cancer (riddled throughout her body), but yet she never ever smoked tobacco, cigarettes, Marijuana or drank anything alcoholic in her entire 72 years of life. Grandma, I thank you for everything you've ever done for me and both of my parents, over the years. I love you and miss you, too and hope you're having fun and enjoying life as it is, up in Heaven!!
Signed, your 1st grandson, Kevin Allen Boyce (turning 55 years old in 2026)... my 2 adult children will never know the life I have witnessed as you've shown me nor the left handed writing you've taught me... or that jigsaw puzzle missing 1 piece and how you would make a new piece to replace it...