My Gramps

As most of you know, last month my Grandpa Cooper passed away. He lived a very full and vibrant life, and left an imprint on all of his children and grandchildren. Whether we were helping grandpa in the yard, or hearing his famous stories around a late night bonfire, we will always remember him for the wonderful caring man he was. Below is an excerpt from his memoirs "Anecdotes and Never-Never Again" he wrote back in 1995. We are so lucky to have his very best stories preserved in writing. Miss you Grandpa, Love Justin.

Ronald Henry Cooper
1918-2009

My Grandpa was about 10 years old when this story occurred, when he lived in the Polish neighborhood of Saginaw.
Polish Parachute

"My Polish friend took an old bed sheet from his house. He wanted to make a parachute. We tied ropes on each corner of the sheet. We twisted the ropes at the ends up to about 3 feet. This helped to make a thicker rope to hang on.
We practiced jumping from a step ladder onto an old bed spring. The home-made parachute seemed to work pretty well. Then we got real brave. We put the ladder against the garage and decided to jump from the garage roof.
I arranged the bed sheet parachute on the roof. I jumped and the parachute opened beautifully. However, it did not help to prevent the hard fall onto the bed springs. My knee caps came up and hit my chin. I saw stars. The Polish friend was not dumb enough to try it. That was the end of our parachute jumping."