Grandpa's Story

My Grandfather, who just turned 91 this month, has led an exciting and full life. He was born in 1920 right after his identical twin brother in Wichita Falls Texas. He was so small the kept him in a shoebox and called him Tensy, although his official name was John Walter Waren. His family name was Warren but they made a mistake on his birth certificate. They lived in Wichita Falls until he was a teenager. He moved to Brownwood, Texas with his mother, brother, and uncle to own a ranch in 1938. His father continued working as railroad employee in Wichita Falls. They bought 160 acres to farm. Because times were so tough, he could not attend college so he went to Los Angeles to get a job. In 1939, my grandmother soon was going to Sul Ross, a school in west Texas. At winter break she left to go to LA to be with him. She was told she had to marry so they went to Las Vegas and got married in December 1939. Grandpa worked odd jobs, but with his family connections he was hired at McDonald Douglass Aircraft. They lived there till 1944 when my father was born. When the war started he joined the navy and became an inspector of aircraft. It was a good safe job. He remembers when Pearl Harbor was bombed. He saved money to buy his family farm, but his father had sold it and he was very upset. He bought a dairy farm in Thrifty, Texas. They could not make any money so he went back to McDonald Douglass in California to work. They lived in El Segundo this time. Again he was an inspector but this time for the government. He had 3 kids total now and they lived a mile from the beach. He worked there until 1959 and went back to Texas to try farming again. He bought 160 acres Grosvenor TX.  Again, he couldn’t make a living so in 1964 moved to Sunnyvale Ca and worked again as inspector for government at Lockheed, another aircraft manufacturer. They moved back to Texas in 1968 and he worked at Bell helicopter in Ft. Worth. He moved back to Sunnyvale in 1971 and worked again at Lockheed. He retired in 1973 and moved to Brownwood TX. He bought 125 acres in McCullough County in 1976 where he was able to farm, his life long dream. He still lives there today.