Herschel Evans Stanford was my maternal grandfather. I have to add that he was any child's dream of what a grandfather should be like.
Herschel grew up in Georgia, the baby of a huge family. He came to the attention of Martha Berry, whom started a school for mountain children, in Rome, GA. She also founded Berry College, where my grandfather attended. He became a high school principal and later was a pioneer in the field of chiropractic.
H.E. met his future bride, Bernice Herrin at the Palmer School of Chiropractic in Iowa. They married and had three children: Jacqueline (my mother), Janet and H.E. Stanford Jr aka Pete. There would come seven grandchildren: Star Fridge Shepherd; Cory Fridge; David S. Fridge III aka known as Sarah, Evan S. Fridge; Heather Dana Fridge Sanderson; Scot Meghan Fridge and Beu Stanford. There are also at least 21 great and great, great grandchildren that I know of.
Grand daddy was quite successful in his career and investments, at one time owning a hotel in Atlanta, an apartment complex called Stanford Heath, more than one farm and various tracts of land around North Georgia. He was also quite a character, getting us grandchildren up before dawn to do yoga exercises with him, teaching my brothers how to chop down trees, building a fire in his basement fireplace so we could roast peanuts in the shell and popcorn, while he told us tall tales like Pecos Bill and Paul Bunyon and unique, funny jokes. He always began them with, "Well, sir." I can remember my grandmother opening the door and hollering down to him, "Herschel, are you telling those children off color jokes again??" She meant bathroom type humor, which sometimes he did tell us, like the ice tea loving Indian who drowned in his own tee pee. He would have us do chores and pay us with paper dollars. Later he would tell us his pockets were too, too heavy with solid silver dollars and he'd trade for our paper dollars. Editing to add: how could I forget that he used to tell us to call him Uncle Greendaddy?
He would take us down to what he called "The world's largest hamburger joint", The Varsity in downtown Atlanta. We thought it was pure magic because they served orange milkshakes and let you watch TV while you ate. He also took us on visits to his farms, rides into the country, where we'd stop along the way for fresh peaches and lessons about life and nature.
One of the most fun things he did was buy every kind of watermelon. There were the red flesh ones, but he also bought orange flesh and yellow flesh ones and it was a big ritual to go outside and make a picnic of them out past the backyard in a huge island of pine straw. He told us that we were to never litter, but that watermelon rinds were okay to throw up in the woods because they would "go back to nature."
He was very generous to us kids, helping with school clothes, shoes, supplies, birthday and Christmas presents. He also was generous with the chiropractic adjustments, which for sensitive me really hurt. When he was 72, he could still do a yoga headstand, with both elbows on the floor. He was six feet tall, so that was interesting to see.
Grand dad was so healthy one day, then suddenly his health began a steady, five year decline. He died in early 1978. He and grandma Bernice helped many people over the years, including putting some of his siblings through college. Anyone who remembers him, remembers him in a bigger than life, legend kind of way. We all miss him very much.
Herschel grew up in Georgia, the baby of a huge family. He came to the attention of Martha Berry, whom started a school for mountain children, in Rome, GA. She also founded Berry College, where my grandfather attended. He became a high school principal and later was a pioneer in the field of chiropractic.
H.E. met his future bride, Bernice Herrin at the Palmer School of Chiropractic in Iowa. They married and had three children: Jacqueline (my mother), Janet and H.E. Stanford Jr aka Pete. There would come seven grandchildren: Star Fridge Shepherd; Cory Fridge; David S. Fridge III aka known as Sarah, Evan S. Fridge; Heather Dana Fridge Sanderson; Scot Meghan Fridge and Beu Stanford. There are also at least 21 great and great, great grandchildren that I know of.
Grand daddy was quite successful in his career and investments, at one time owning a hotel in Atlanta, an apartment complex called Stanford Heath, more than one farm and various tracts of land around North Georgia. He was also quite a character, getting us grandchildren up before dawn to do yoga exercises with him, teaching my brothers how to chop down trees, building a fire in his basement fireplace so we could roast peanuts in the shell and popcorn, while he told us tall tales like Pecos Bill and Paul Bunyon and unique, funny jokes. He always began them with, "Well, sir." I can remember my grandmother opening the door and hollering down to him, "Herschel, are you telling those children off color jokes again??" She meant bathroom type humor, which sometimes he did tell us, like the ice tea loving Indian who drowned in his own tee pee. He would have us do chores and pay us with paper dollars. Later he would tell us his pockets were too, too heavy with solid silver dollars and he'd trade for our paper dollars. Editing to add: how could I forget that he used to tell us to call him Uncle Greendaddy?
He would take us down to what he called "The world's largest hamburger joint", The Varsity in downtown Atlanta. We thought it was pure magic because they served orange milkshakes and let you watch TV while you ate. He also took us on visits to his farms, rides into the country, where we'd stop along the way for fresh peaches and lessons about life and nature.
One of the most fun things he did was buy every kind of watermelon. There were the red flesh ones, but he also bought orange flesh and yellow flesh ones and it was a big ritual to go outside and make a picnic of them out past the backyard in a huge island of pine straw. He told us that we were to never litter, but that watermelon rinds were okay to throw up in the woods because they would "go back to nature."
He was very generous to us kids, helping with school clothes, shoes, supplies, birthday and Christmas presents. He also was generous with the chiropractic adjustments, which for sensitive me really hurt. When he was 72, he could still do a yoga headstand, with both elbows on the floor. He was six feet tall, so that was interesting to see.
Grand dad was so healthy one day, then suddenly his health began a steady, five year decline. He died in early 1978. He and grandma Bernice helped many people over the years, including putting some of his siblings through college. Anyone who remembers him, remembers him in a bigger than life, legend kind of way. We all miss him very much.
Herschel Evans Stanford was my maternal grandfather. I have to add that he was any child's dream of what a grandfather should be like.
Herschel grew up in Georgia, the baby of a huge family. He came to the attention of Martha Berry, whom started a school for mountain children, in Rome, GA. She also founded Berry College, where my grandfather attended. He became a high school principal and later was a pioneer in the field of chiropractic.
H.E. met his future bride, Bernice Herrin at the Palmer School of Chiropractic in Iowa. They married and had three children: Jacqueline (my mother), Janet and H.E. Stanford Jr aka Pete. There would come seven grandchildren: Star Fridge Shepherd; Cory Fridge; David S. Fridge III aka known as Sarah, Evan S. Fridge; Heather Dana Fridge Sanderson; Scot Meghan Fridge and Beu Stanford. There are also at least 21 great and great, great grandchildren that I know of.
Grand daddy was quite successful in his career and investments, at one time owning a hotel in Atlanta, an apartment complex called Stanford Heath, more than one farm and various tracts of land around North Georgia. He was also quite a character, getting us grandchildren up before dawn to do yoga exercises with him, teaching my brothers how to chop down trees, building a fire in his basement fireplace so we could roast peanuts in the shell and popcorn, while he told us tall tales like Pecos Bill and Paul Bunyon and unique, funny jokes. He always began them with, "Well, sir." I can remember my grandmother opening the door and hollering down to him, "Herschel, are you telling those children off color jokes again??" She meant bathroom type humor, which sometimes he did tell us, like the ice tea loving Indian who drowned in his own tee pee. He would have us do chores and pay us with paper dollars. Later he would tell us his pockets were too, too heavy with solid silver dollars and he'd trade for our paper dollars. Editing to add: how could I forget that he used to tell us to call him Uncle Greendaddy?
He would take us down to what he called "The world's largest hamburger joint", The Varsity in downtown Atlanta. We thought it was pure magic because they served orange milkshakes and let you watch TV while you ate. He also took us on visits to his farms, rides into the country, where we'd stop along the way for fresh peaches and lessons about life and nature.
One of the most fun things he did was buy every kind of watermelon. There were the red flesh ones, but he also bought orange flesh and yellow flesh ones and it was a big ritual to go outside and make a picnic of them out past the backyard in a huge island of pine straw. He told us that we were to never litter, but that watermelon rinds were okay to throw up in the woods because they would "go back to nature."
He was very generous to us kids, helping with school clothes, shoes, supplies, birthday and Christmas presents. He also was generous with the chiropractic adjustments, which for sensitive me really hurt. When he was 72, he could still do a yoga headstand, with both elbows on the floor. He was six feet tall, so that was interesting to see.
Grand dad was so healthy one day, then suddenly his health began a steady, five year decline. He died in early 1978. He and grandma Bernice helped many people over the years, including putting some of his siblings through college. Anyone who remembers him, remembers him in a bigger than life, legend kind of way. We all miss him very much.
Herschel grew up in Georgia, the baby of a huge family. He came to the attention of Martha Berry, whom started a school for mountain children, in Rome, GA. She also founded Berry College, where my grandfather attended. He became a high school principal and later was a pioneer in the field of chiropractic.
H.E. met his future bride, Bernice Herrin at the Palmer School of Chiropractic in Iowa. They married and had three children: Jacqueline (my mother), Janet and H.E. Stanford Jr aka Pete. There would come seven grandchildren: Star Fridge Shepherd; Cory Fridge; David S. Fridge III aka known as Sarah, Evan S. Fridge; Heather Dana Fridge Sanderson; Scot Meghan Fridge and Beu Stanford. There are also at least 21 great and great, great grandchildren that I know of.
Grand daddy was quite successful in his career and investments, at one time owning a hotel in Atlanta, an apartment complex called Stanford Heath, more than one farm and various tracts of land around North Georgia. He was also quite a character, getting us grandchildren up before dawn to do yoga exercises with him, teaching my brothers how to chop down trees, building a fire in his basement fireplace so we could roast peanuts in the shell and popcorn, while he told us tall tales like Pecos Bill and Paul Bunyon and unique, funny jokes. He always began them with, "Well, sir." I can remember my grandmother opening the door and hollering down to him, "Herschel, are you telling those children off color jokes again??" She meant bathroom type humor, which sometimes he did tell us, like the ice tea loving Indian who drowned in his own tee pee. He would have us do chores and pay us with paper dollars. Later he would tell us his pockets were too, too heavy with solid silver dollars and he'd trade for our paper dollars. Editing to add: how could I forget that he used to tell us to call him Uncle Greendaddy?
He would take us down to what he called "The world's largest hamburger joint", The Varsity in downtown Atlanta. We thought it was pure magic because they served orange milkshakes and let you watch TV while you ate. He also took us on visits to his farms, rides into the country, where we'd stop along the way for fresh peaches and lessons about life and nature.
One of the most fun things he did was buy every kind of watermelon. There were the red flesh ones, but he also bought orange flesh and yellow flesh ones and it was a big ritual to go outside and make a picnic of them out past the backyard in a huge island of pine straw. He told us that we were to never litter, but that watermelon rinds were okay to throw up in the woods because they would "go back to nature."
He was very generous to us kids, helping with school clothes, shoes, supplies, birthday and Christmas presents. He also was generous with the chiropractic adjustments, which for sensitive me really hurt. When he was 72, he could still do a yoga headstand, with both elbows on the floor. He was six feet tall, so that was interesting to see.
Grand dad was so healthy one day, then suddenly his health began a steady, five year decline. He died in early 1978. He and grandma Bernice helped many people over the years, including putting some of his siblings through college. Anyone who remembers him, remembers him in a bigger than life, legend kind of way. We all miss him very much.
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