I) Intro:
Everything of who we are today is from past experiences in our lives. People also make huge impact
Teacher have opened our eyes to new things and more knowledge
Boy scout leader may have made us stronger
Even previous bf/gf can move or motivate us in ways not thought imaginable
To pinpoint one person who has truly made a large impact, It came as an ease as I had chose my grandfather, Klaus Schuiling.
To better understand just exactly how my grandfather has made such a huge impact on my life, it best to know a little background on him
II) Native of the small town of Ripon California located just 1 hour south of Sacramento.
Klaus was born on May 5, 1930 to two parents who had traveled to the states from Holland.
Once arriving in the states in 1916, my great grandparents moved first to Montana. Originally farmers in the Netherlands, they realized Montana was not the best place for them, so they picked up and moved to the farming lands of the central valley of California, Now calling Ripon a new home.
14 years later, they gave birth to their only child, giving him the common Dutch name, Klaus or Clarence in English.
Fun Fact - born in the exact same bedroom that he still sleeps in now
My grandfather grew up on a common farm, raising cows, chickens, pigs and farming almond and walnut trees
He lived here all the way up until his last 4 months of high school. As the Korean War was beginning to come to an end, many young men thought I would be a good idea to join the Navy and that is exactly what he did.
He and a group of 13 hometown friends decided to drop out of high school just at the end of their senior year and take a little time to travel.
With this, he was able to visit many great places such as New York, England, Germany, Hawaii, Japan, Korea, Seattle, Panama and much more
After spending 4 years at sea, he returned home and met my grandmother within 4 months of being back in town.
They fell in love and were married 8 months later. Married on Dec 28 1954 - did so to claim her on his income taxes haha
From here, they gave birth to my mother along with 5 others, totaling to 6 girls.
III) Growing up, my parents, although happily married today, had split up for close to 10 years. My father was not around much and my mother worked 3 jobs to support her 4 children, including me
With this, we spend most of our childhood growing up at my grandparents house and this is where my grandfather had made the most impact on my life, teaching me to key lessons that I still carry out to this day, Hard work and Honesty.
A) Taught me to be hard working
Much like my great grandfather, my grandpa also grew up to farm over 50 acres of almonds and walnuts. Here is where I truly learned the meaning of work hard and fully push myself
The uptake and keep that goes into farming the perfect harvest
