My Grandpa Kirk is an old Okie. Even though he had been in California for longer than he lived in Oklahoma he still has the thickest accent, it is slow and smoky. Kind of like if whiskey had a voice. He drove a red truck with a brass spittoon on the floor, he always had a package of Red Man chewing tobacco in his pocket. I associate things like corn beef hash and hair cream with my Grandpa Kirk. For years he lived in a cabin out in the middle of nowhere with his dog named “Huntin Dog”. He hunted his own meat,. The only time I’ve fired a 22 rifle was at his cabin in Sheep Ranch, California. You could take the man out of Antlers, Oklahoma but you can’t take Oklahoma out of the man.
When my brothers and I were little we would see my Grandpa Kirk when his ship would come into San Francisco. He was a Merchant Marine and would brings us exotic gifts. Wool blankets from Peru, pearls from Japan. My favorite was the rug made from Llama fur which was so soft. Growing up there had been stories about my Grandfather being in a shipwreck en route to Japan. Nothing was ever really mentioned other than there had been accident. It wasn’t until I was an adult that I was told the name of the ship. Earlier this year I googled it and found the Coast Guard report and an excerpt from a book on shipwrecks. Yesterday was the 40th anniversary of the Panoceanic Faith ship wreck. Out of a crew of 41 only 5 men survived the frigid waters near Alaska. He was one of 7 men that made it onto a life raft, 4 of those men died in the night
Grandpa Kirk moved back to Oklahoma recently, back to his home. I cant wait for the twins to meet him. This post is dedicated to him, a quiet fighter. I love you Grandpa.
To read the Coast Guard report click here Coast Guard Report of the Panoceanic Sinking
Grandpa’s truck “Ol’ Yeller” It had rusted through holes on the floor boards so we had to ride with our feet on the dashboard.
Bianca, Grandpa and Mom in his garden in Sheep Ranch, CA (1985)
Me sitting in Grandpa’s red truck. Too bad you cant see the spittoon on the floor. (1984)
Souther, Grandpa and some random dog (1984)
Getting ready to fire off some D batteries out of the cannon.
13 responses so far ↓
1 souther // Oct 12, 2007 at 12:31 am
I’d like to add to the list: the cat named “funny lookin dog”, joyrides in “old yeller” (which he would drive straight down the hill just like the man from snowy river, running over treelings and giant rocks), the cannon that shot D batteries, and the smuggled Incan sculpture that was built into the stone fireplace…
2 Brandy Regan // Oct 12, 2007 at 11:26 am
Ok I will add my own… The old indian caves up on the hill that somehow an old ghost story would generate from. The Tarantula that slowly crawled down the drive path to his house that completely freaked me out! And the occasional dead dear hanging out in the back draining blood.
3 Grandma Lavon // Oct 12, 2007 at 8:55 pm
<p>Hava, When the ship that rescued your grandpa brought him to Long Beach, CA, your mom, Aunt Linda, Uncle John & Uncle Nelson (all being youngsters in 1967) and I went to meet the ship and let him know how happy we all were that he survived. <br />
Love, Grandma Lavon</p>
4 Nelson // Oct 14, 2007 at 12:20 pm
I remember seeing Dad coming in on a small boat and he was wiping tears in his eyes. I seen bodies on the deck in canvas. We went to the hospital with Dad and he had his jeans rolled up at the bottom and he flicked his cigarette ashes in his pants. One of his friends was a black man and I always remembered after that day, my dad had black friends and he wasn’t a racist. I remember always sharing the story about my dad surviving a shipwreck and how it was his viking blood that helped him in the cold ocean. Some of Dad’s sayings are: “Root, Hog or Die” “Nothing is Guaranteed in Life” . I seen dad build his home over the years in Sheep Ranch and I have some of his trees growing in Fremont Hills. Starting a new generation of Blue Oaks. I got a good work ethic from my dad and mom. I’m a street wise okie!
5 Steve Sabatini // Oct 15, 2007 at 8:51 am
I like to tell people that my father in law hunts bears and eats deer meat and lives on the land, and never complains that life is hard on the land.
Also that his working and saving and learning how to do anything he put his mind to got him his dream house. I have’nt yet told him how much I admire him, so here it is.
6 Tessa // Oct 15, 2007 at 5:11 pm
I remember when i was about 5 or 6 i was up in grandpas room with him looking outside his window watching a deer . As i look out the window i look to the side of me and there was grandpa with a gun pointing towards the poor baby animal. i asked him what he was doing and he said that he was going to get him some food. right before he was able to pull the trigger i yelled “RUN BAMBI RUN” …. I was not allowed in grandpas room since.
I also remember how my friends would get scared when grandpa would reach over and slide his leather vest over the handle of his gun . Grandpas so cool!
7 iain // Oct 15, 2007 at 6:09 pm
i mentioned the same memories that bro and sis have in a blog i wrote in 2005, when he was about to leave for oklahoma. it’s under the entry entitled “5 stories” and it’s the 4th story. it’s only a paragraph but there’s a couple pics that i took when we visited him before he left that you can check out. heres the link:
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.listAll&friendID=8514013&startID=60015215&StartPostedDate=2005-11-09%2005:58:00&next=1&page=1&Mytoken=2A74CC94-0CEA-4737-B43E1950BB4E004D34593476
8 Christal // Oct 15, 2007 at 7:33 pm
I was reading all the different post and it brought back some wonderful memories. How lucky we all are to have such an amazing man in our life.
9 Sarah Grandpa's Favorite // Oct 23, 2007 at 8:43 am
Oh MY grandpa Bill who has always had a close resemblance to Popeye so I guess that makes grandma Mary Oliveoile. I have great memories of Grandpa I remember how we use to make Teepee in his back yard hoping that we would wake up in the morning to see a Bear or a dear sleeping in them, it never happen. or how I though it was super cool that my grandpa packed a gun, something I had to show all my friends or how he would show up at our house in his brown truck and have tons of animals in the back i.e sheep’s, chickens, goats etc etc etc he was a traveling animal zoo! Grandpa is a cool guy and definitely one of a kind. I can always count on grandpa I know he will always be there for us grand kids!
10 Christal & Corey // Dec 11, 2007 at 11:27 am
I will miss him!!!!!!
11 Valhalla // Dec 11, 2007 at 6:26 pm
[...] were such tough little fighters. Last night his old Viking heart gave out. A man who survived a horrific shipwreck did not survive lung cancer. His seafaring years exposed him to chemicals meant to make ships [...]
12 SARAH STILL GRANPA'S FAVORITE // Dec 12, 2007 at 4:00 pm
I WILL ALWAYS LOVE MY GRANDPA!
13 George Pflaumbaum // Nov 21, 2010 at 7:07 am
Hello Sarah,
concerning the disaster of your grandfathers vessel Panoceanic Faith, I can tell you that was the Radio Officer on a German vessel which was one of the searching ships in the North Pacific on October 9, 1967. Therefore I am in posession of more details and pictures. If you are interested, I will send it to you.
George Pflaumbaum
ex Radio Officer
e-mail: hidden by administrator
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