September 12th was Grandparents Day, but EngAGE has been celebrating grandparents for the entire month! Program Director Helene Weinberg asked residents to share favorite photos of their grandchildren and their own grandparents. Their memories express the special bond of that endearing relationship that blossoms through the years.
Frank Canetti as a baby with his nonno, Nicolo, and with his grandson, Sunny
Frank Canetti (PacArts): The picture with me and my grandfather was taken in his backyard on Ninth St. in San Pedro. Approximately 1949. He immigrated from Italy, the island of Ischia, in 1909. He was in the grocery and ship supply business and also founded the family restaurant, Canetti‘s Seafood Grotto, which was a fixture in San Pedro for 65 years.
The picture of me and my grandson, Sunny, was taken at his last Little League game a couple of months ago. He’s five years old and just started kindergarten. He is my daughter Catherine and son-in-law Jacob’s kid, and they recently move to Centerville, Utah.
Iris (LBSAC): This is one of my happiest times with Rowan!!! I just love this book: Owl Babies by Martin Waddell! I love giving this as a baby shower gift!
Jennifer Esquivel (PacArts): This is really close to my heart as my grandmother just passed away last Saturday. Her name is Ada Blanca Esquivel. She was 87 when she passed and, although she lived here in Los Angeles with my family throughout my youth, most recently she lived in Costa Rica, her home country, where she was when she passed.
I’ve included a photo of she and I painting in my apartment. Creating art was a favorite pastime of ours. I love that you reached out with this request, especially at this time.
Maria (LBSAC): A special memory is with my grandbaby who was teaching me how to swim!
Kyle (LBSAC): I only had one grandparent, Henry David Cohen. Grandpa was already 80 years old when I arrived, but he was definitely alive and kicking! He adored his grandchildren, my sisters and I on the East coast and my cousins on the West coast. Whenever he took the train down from New York City to Long Branch, New Jersey, to visit our house, he would stop at the newsstand and buy Five Flavors Lifesavers and Wrigley’s gum for each of us. My Aunt Anna would always come with him and proclaim, “Pop! You’re spoiling them!”
Grandpa carried a change purse so that his coins wouldn’t jingle and soil his pants. When he was with us, he would empty it on the table and teach us about money. He would try to trick us into trading dimes for nickels until we were onto the fact that dimes were worth more than the larger nickels and pennies. He would place some coins on the table for us to total. If you got the amount right, you could keep the change.
My grandfather was an Orthodox Jew. He quietly prayed twice a day. His shul was just two blocks down 16th Street, across 7th Avenue, in New York City. When he was well into his nineties and his eyesight was going, a friend would come up in the elevator and fetch Grandpa to go to shul. This was something that happened until he died at the age of 96 in 1971. I was seventeen and I still feel the loss. He was a very special man in my life.
