I love family history!  In fact, most would probably say I am a family history nerd.  I prefer the term guru.  However, I love it most when I can involve my kids in the process.  For instance, the following post was written by my then 9 year old after he interviewed his 95 year old great grandfather.

      The life of my grandfather, Max Dickson Weaver, was a lot different than yours or mine.  He grew up going to school in a covered wagon,   running to catch a train, and then finally a Model T Ford.  The cost of gas in those days was 15 cents a gallon. 

            Max was born March 15, 1917.  He was one of   seven kids.  There were six boys and one girl.  He grew up on a farm in Layton, Utah.   He loved it when his mother Sophia churned ice cream.  He scooped himself a giant bowl. He didn’t have much time for playing baseball like I do.  Instead he had to milk the cows, herd the cows, do his chores and pull the weeds in the crops.  Unlike me, he played cowboys and Indians instead of the Wii.  When my grandfather talks of the days of the depression, he cries.  My grandpa was very poor.

            My grandpa went to Utah State University.  He worked a janitor to pay for his schooling.  It was a trade.  He did not even have enough money to go to the dances they had back then. 

            My grandpa joined the ROTC so he could have warm clothes.  For joining, they gave him 2pairs of pants, high top boots, and a utility jacket.  My grandpa slept on the back porch of some friends’ home during his college days. 

            He met his wife at a dance. The janitors were allowed to go to the dance free since they were just going to clean it up after the dance.  At one of the dances, my grandma, Ruth Stoddard Kimball looked over and saw Max.  She went home and told her mom, “I’ve met the guy I’d like to marry.”  Once grandpa started going to the dances, his dance card was always full. 

            One day Ruth’s mother’s visiting teacher came over and told Ruth’s mom that if Max asked her daughter to marry him she would say yes!  That put Ruth’s mother in a new competition.  One day a man came over to Ruth and said that his son   had a brand new automobile and that he would like to be your boyfriend.  Ruth responded,   “I’m sorry for your son, but I’ve got Max.”  Once Max walked over to Ruth’s house (it was a 17 block walk) and said, “I’ve got no automobile, no money to take you for a treat, but would walk to the dance with me?”  Ruth responded, “I’ll walk anywhere with you, Max!”

            They were later married in the Logan temple on December 20,   1938.  My   grandpa served in WWII in the Philippines.  Max and Ruth had 4 boys and 2 girls.  Their names are Kimball, Kurt, Katherine, Scott Ruth Kay, and Wynn.  Max worked as a school teacher teaching art.  He taught at Helper High School, Logan High, Cypress High, CSU and BYU.  My grandpa   is 95 and still paints to this day.

            Here are some of the qualities I admire about my grandpa.  He was always willing to do what he was asked, he was hard working, he was never lazy, and he is a great painter.