Guest Poster: Grandpa Franklin
Three days late for father’s day and way too earlier for Halloween it is a guest post FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE!! Here is a drawing by my Grandpa Franklin my mom sent me recently that as the writing on the drawing says is: “Al Otis and his Pirates circa 1927 at Moose hall in Aberdeen, Washington”. Or as his caption says “at midway”. “Midway” to what in Aberdeen I don’t know. Click to see bigger. As you can see not much has changed in Aberdeen since 1927 compared to the last time I was there. I assume the skinheads throwing bottles are just out of frame in my Grandfather’s rendering. Below the drawing is a picture of Franklin Gillespie, my grandfather.
Grandpa was a musician and a later a teacher. He graduated from Centralia High School in Centralia, Washington and then joined up with Al and his Pirates before moving on to tour around with an Archie Loveland and then bigger names like Horace Heidt and his band.
My mom has always told me that Grandpa loved cartooning but this is the first that I have seen of any of his drawings. I got to meet him once when I was little bitty when the family had traveled down to his house in Sacramento. I remember him playing piano, showing me how to draw a boot and telling me “try it you’ll like it,” in a funny voice when I didn’t want to eat something.