My Grandpa Russell

Ernest Edward Russell

　
My Grandpa Russell was born on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1890, in Eager, Arizona, a small town in Northern Arizona. His family lived there for a few years, but eventually moved down to Thatcher, Arizona, where the climate was milder. His family were farmers. In those days Thatcher was a very small place, (actually, it still is) consisting mostly of farmers, ranchers, and Pima Indians.

After growing up Grandpa went to the University of Arizona and became an entomologist. He and Grandma raised their family in Mesa, Arizona, which is where I was born. I remember the old green pick-up truck Grandpa used to drive. One day he and grandma came to pick my big brother and me up, they were going to take us with them up to the cabin for a week. I must have been about four or five years old, and had never gone anywhere without mom and dad before. We all piled into the old truck and grandpa shut the door, but my thumb was still on the door jamb, and it got smashed. Poor grandpa felt so terrible! I remember looking at my thumb, all red and swollen, and how it throbbed and throbbed, but most of all I remember the cupie doll grandpa ran to the store to buy for me. He was such a sweetie!

It seemed like every time we saw grandpa, especially as he got older, he would tell us the story about when he was a little boy in school in Thatcher. One day he was outside playing at recess when a little Indian boy came up to him. Grandpa didn't know this boy, but the boy asked, "You Russell?"
"Yes," grandpa answered, because his name was Ernest Russell.
"You Russell?" the little boy asked him again.
"Yes," answered grandpa the second time, figuring the little boy didn't understand him the first time.
"You Russell?" the boy asked him a third time, and by now grandpa was getting pretty perturbed with him.
"I said yes," grandpa answered him crossly.
Then the little Indian boy threw him on the ground, jumped on top of him, and proceeded to wrestle with grandpa. You see, when he had said "You Russell?" he had really meant, "You wrestle?" and he was asking grandpa if he wanted to wrestle him