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So today is April 17, 2023. - APRIL 17, 1936 - OCTOBER 24, 2003. Today would be My Grandpa PoPo's 87th birthday but he was robbed at his life at only 67 in October 2003...I have been dreading this year because he's been gone for 20 years and it just doesn't seem like it's been that darn long I have talked about him countless times throughout the board. He was the Father I never had and he was My best friend. He was the smartest & kindness man I ever knew. He'd give you his shirt off of his back if he could. He loved just about everything, possibly more than anybody else. He loved animals, the weather & nature. He loved his wife Gloria My Grandma MiMi so much. He is the reason why I love movie music as he brought to My attention at such a young age. I recall dancing to his record on his custom made stereo system of Jerry Goldsmith's First Blood when I was only 2 or 3, ever since I have been a fan of film scores. He loved wrestling, boxing & baseball. I loved watching movies like Alien & Aliens, Frankenstein meets the Wolf Man, Conan the Destroyer, Legend, The Unnameable and so much more with him in the dark. His other passions was motorcycles & bicycles. He was treated so rotten by his family and long story short that is what caused him to get sick changing his life forever and altering Mine. He was being misdiagnosed by many doctors not knowing what was wrong and rapidly aging to a young demise of only 67 years young He was a health nut and none of this should have happen, he ate right and was in tip top shape. He was extremely strong and could bench press a ton. There was no justice for him about anything I think how this world turned it's back on one of the greatest and most humane personalities ever to be on the planet yet it nor it's inhabitants never cared I am quite thankful that I knew him before he got sick so here is some pics of My Grandpa PoPo Ronald or Ronnie as My Grandma called him

This is when he was really young in the Air Force. He built and repaired planes & choppers. He knew most if not all of the makes, he used to tell Me them all the time and point them out to Me in movies.



Here he is much older shaking hands with his General and receiving a big award



Here is two classic pictures of him at the old house.



I have always loved this picture of him. He looks so neat & handsome here. I look at his face & eyes and I cannot begin to fathom why his family treated him so bad and why they hated him. He never ever did anything wrong in My sight and always treated Me well and was always there for Me especially when was I sick in 94, I always wanted him to rub My head to calm Me down It makes Me sad to think that I didn't do enough with him As I noted before My cousin Brian basically dumped us after he couldn't "use" My Grandpa to fix his motorcycles anymore...last time I saw him was in 97 and I haven't seen him since and everybody else just stays away The stuff like these family members did just makes Me feel such hatred for this world but I know it's not all bad because he was a part of it and I know that



Here he is a few years before everything changed for him and My Family. We always told him that he looked like Robert Mitchum. He was such a character. If you like comedy boy he knew some jokes and his own type of sense of humor, he was so talented at so much During this time was a big when Me & him would go to Pro-Am & Tower Tee Golf/Batting Cages, We did that for many, many years, it was always so fun especially since it was with him



Speaking of talent, he was a great oil painter. He loved Bob Ross in the 80s and wanted to paint like him. He was a natural at it right away. He painted dozens upon dozens paintings. He always signed his initials on the corners of his paintings. This marvelous one is in My room as I speak



I was going to show this last year but I skipped it but know I'm not. He painted this huge, 4 foot wide painting for Me...look at how wonderful he made it



He dated it 5/27/87, it just had it's 35th anniversary last year...look at that as he signed it to Me



He also made this Dinosaur Painting for Me as it was an inspiration from one of My Dinosaur Books he liked. I believe he made this in between 86 - 89 which I never could be certain about that period of time



So I have talked about My Grandpa's bike shop before. I just say it's his, he worked for an owner named Caesar. I met him a few times and his was ok. He had his sons work there with My Grandpa and hired some other guys but they all came and went but My Grandpa stayed. He was great at this job and the boss knew it however he usually never did anything special for him. Like the aircraft he knew when he was part of the Air Force, My Grandpa knew just about every make & model of bicycle made and he knew how to build'em & fix'em. He was basically self-trained, it was the same thing for motorcycles which I'll get to that in minute. Like I said before he was a living book of knowledge. So at Our old house when I was a youngster I'd used to go outside and look down the sidewalk for him cause the bike shop was just around the corner really. I'd get really excited when I'd see him there and I'd say PoPo is coming home Note the big apartment on the right, that is where My friends of siblings Chasity & Eric used to live which I will talk about them some other time and then the apartment complex next to that is where siblings Timmy & Jenny lived which I just recently talked about them in My Marvel Topic and depicted how I believe the looked as they matured



So at the corner here is the old 7-Eleven that I talked about before in My Odds & Ends' Glory Days of Movie Rentals, that location is still there. Further down the street was where Movie Mogul was and around the corner on the right is where Tru-Buy, Rainbow Video & The Ringmaker was which I have showcased them in that said topic as well.



So now turning left, this is the direction where the bike shop is.



These two buildings here housed two little toy shops that was novelty based like rubbery finger puppets, plastic coins and stuff like that. I always wanted to go there before and after Me & My Grandma saw Po. They closed sometime later around 90/91 and then it became a costume rental place. I remember they had a big clown costume in their window. They closed in the mid 90s



The big wooded area you see is Tower Grove Park, I talked about that when I showcased Paramount Drugs that Po and I would walk there all the time and he'd carry Me on his shoulders. So the building on the right is the bike shop...



It's called A&M Cyclery and it's been in business for over 90s years. It changed ownership many times over the decades with some that had no passion of bicycles like Caesar for instance, just the the business to make dough. It's still there and on their FB page while there's a lot of young people there that has no clue how it was when My Grandpa worked there and how handy he was This is the place I said when I got the August 1990 WWF Magazine at the 7-Eleven and showed it to him there. He met boxer Michael Spinks who hails from St. Louis when he stopped by We went there in the 90s as he was having withdrawals of nostalgic passion of when he used to work there and he talked to the owner then which the place kinda changed in those few short years since he jump-shipped. Here is the current logo and I have no idea who runs the place now.




Caesar wasn't appreciating him Me, My Mom & Grandma kept on telling Po to quit and work for Sears. One day after Caesar died in late 95/early 96 My Grandpa left the shop for good and went to a bike shop in South County and they were horrible to him. Every day he'd come home complaining. I don't know what the freggin' heck it was why people was always horse$h!t to him Then he quit and finally accepted My Mom's offer for him to work at Sears in Crestwood because she was working there for years already, she was great in the shoe department. He would be a top employee there in Lawn & Garden and many other areas of the store He worked there until he was unable too in the early 2000s. Briefly, this what Crestwood's Sears looked liked before they went out business along with the whole plaza and that includes K-B & K&K Toys, The Pasta House, Dillards, AMC Theater and so many others. I talked about how they leveled acres away Sometime soon I will showcase this much further





Here is My Grandpa's Suzuki and here he is holding a trophy that he & MiMi won on the bike race



Here is MiMi on his bike while he took the picture of her



Here they are together on his Yamaha getting ready to go on another trip down to Georgia oh and look, he had a mustache which was quite rare for him cause he was always clean shavin' and I loved his little barn in that great back yard of the old house



And last but certainly not least here is Po with a prized bike with his USA Today Shirt that he wore all the time till it was so worn out And here he is with his helmet ready to ride. He got Me a helmet like that and We rode together a lot too. I look at the picture of him and I think he was so great looking there in that pose on his bike



So there was a My Birthday tribute to My Grandpa PoPo. I have said much more about him in My Grandma's tribute and many other topics too. I know his family forgot him and whomever is left on My Grandma's side has too so I'm posting him here hoping that he won't be here. Like stores, locations, times and everything else, if you don't talk about that and people it's all gonna fall in limbo and be in the grasp of oblivion, it might sound far out to you but believe it isn't, it's very imperative that you do so. Who knows, I might add more here if I deem it necessary as there is plenty more to talk about. Happy Birthday Po, I hope your celebrating with MiMi somewhere

Happy birthday to your grandpa, buddy. I'm certain he appreciates you keeping his memory alive.

I hope so Acid, thank you a lot

Happy belated birthday. I think you did him quite an honor with this presentation. Those painting were quite nice. Painting like that was one thing I was never good at. I used to enjoy Bob Ross, too. When I was a kid it was fun to laugh about his hair and the language he used, but when I got older I really appreciated his ability. One of my holy grail wishes was to someday own a Bob Ross painting. I still see his show every now and then on PBS. I showed my daughter it one day because she's a better artist than I ever was, and she said they watch episodes in art class. Can you believe that! That one picture of him in the brown fishing shirt made me think of Dave Madden from The Partridge Family. I still think it's a funny coincidence both our mothers worked in the shoe department of large retailers.

Well thanks PB. It doesn't matter if it's belated as long as you do it Thanks a lot and I hope so. Yes, it is weird that Our Mothers both worked in shoes. That's a really cool trivia there you gave Me about Bob Ross and the art class. That picture of him you mentioned is really a great one of his, you can tell that he was such a special man with a great personality. He was like Arnold in Kindergarten Cop after Arnold became adjust to the kids, he was just as kind and he reminded Me of him a lot specifically when I was sick in 94. Thanks for everything you said PB

I might archive some stuff that I already posted here now and then. I'm not sure how I will do it, i see when the time comes

Nice post man. Your grandpa seemed like a really special guy.

Thanks ONS. Yes he indeed was

It's Father's Day and I wanted to quote a special that I posted when I first started My great Odds & Ends Topic with My Insane Keychain and I believe I got this 30 years ago this year in 1993 so Happy Father's Day to My Grandpa PoPo, the Father I never had and My best friend

BrandonDaCollector wrote:Ah man, this is also quite special to Me. This is My Prairie du Rocher Village in Illinois! One day in the early 90s, I believe it was 93, possibly 92 that My Grandpa got Me this. One day during that year he wanted to ride his Suzuki and I always wanted to ride with him. He wanted to go somewhere special so we went there, looked around and stuff and he got Me that souvenir, I have never forgotten that special day

So today is October 24th, the day that My Grandpa PoPo passed away It was 20 years ago this year in 2003 and I've never forgotten it but I want to make this better and not focus on that and focus on the good about him so I saw this in his room and I thought this would be perfect to showcase on the dreadful day so here we go this



Yes, this is a very special exclusive Sears Craftsman Paddington Bear. As you know he work at Sears from 96 till he couldn't work anymore in his last days. He was a great worker and employee and he was a top one over there in Crestwood. He got one for himself and one for Me. Mine is in storage somewhere so I thought get his out now. As you can see he looks just like Paddington Bear




Here's a close up of his Craftsman apron & hammer.



Here's his special little Please look after this Bear Thank You Tag telling where he's from which is London England plus the Sears & Kids Gifts tags which Kids Gifts is the company that made him.




Now here's his main tag. Look at the 1997 Copyright, tha'ts when about My Grandpa PoPo got'em



Now take gander at this, he paid $19.99 for him plus he got Me one too...that's about $40 My Grandpa was not a tight man, like I said before he'd give you his shirt off of his back, he was so kind & smart. He got Me a lot from Sears which soon I hope to showcase them in time



So that will do it for this special Sears Craftsman Paddington Bear. While this is an unfortunate reason as to why I did this, I'm glad that I was able to present something a little special that got that shows a little history of not only Sears but also of himself

I got my first credit card from Sears in 1996! I can't recall ever owning anything Paddington though there's a good chance I may've when I was really little. I remember him being a part of many Romper Room episodes as they did a story each episode. It's nice that you still have these things.