ALFRED SIMEON ROSS

BIRTH: FEBRUARY 22, 1892, DEATH: MAY 15, 1989

All the computers in the World could not hold all the information on the type of man this man (My Grandfather) was.   God fearing, totally devotion to his wife and family.   He always said that if you can't speak kindly about someone, then you should keep your mouth shut.

There no doubt about it God put this "Man and Wife" on earth for a special purpose and they fulfilled every thing they were requested to do.   There was never a cross word between them.

Grand pap met his wife Bessie Van Meter at the Post Office, down what is now Route 220 south of Cumberland, at a place called Dawson.   She lived across the Potomac at a placed called Riverside, West Virginia.   That is East of Dans Mountain.   He was dragging Logs from Dans Mountain with a Team of Horses, she was checking for their mail at the Danville Post Office.   He was raised by his father on the South East Side of Dans Mountain.

My father was dating my mother and Grand pap was on his was to the Mines, Grandma was ready to have a baby and so was   Grand pap’s favorite Hound Dog, As they passed walking, my father asked "Sim did she have it yet", Grand pap said yea, she had 7.   He was talking about his Hound.   We always got a laugh talking about this.

My Grand pap was "Quick Witted" and a "Clown" the most enjoyable person in the world to work with.   I spent many days on the Farm with him helping us after he retired from Ocean Mines.   He worked in a number of Coal Mines when he got older.   He said that he started working in the Mines when he was old enough that his lunch bucket didn't drag the ground, then he was old enough.

On our Farm he always was there a 7 A.M. and I had to have the Team ready for him, he would work all day behind that Team of Horses.   He could plow a straighter fur rough with a Team then any modern farmer can with the best of Tractors.   That was his way of life also.   He lived a straight "Christian Life" and had a modest home life, honesty above all, and never had said "Bad of Anyone".

I learned to hunt with this man and he killed an 8-point buck when he was in his Eighty's, he said he when in the woods with my father, and there wasn't enough stumps for everyone.   Then here came the buck within 5 minutes and he got it, the Cumberland Times wrote and article and put his picture in their paper.

I REMEMBER WHEN WE WOULD VISIT GRANDMA'S AND GRANDPAP'S THAT I WOULD WAIT TILL OCEAN MINES WOULD LEAVE OUT AND THE WORKERS WOULD WALK DOWN THE RAILROAD TRACKS ON THEIR WAY HOME.   THEY WOULD BE ALL BLACK EXPECT THEIR EYES AND AROUND THEIR MOUTHS.   IT WAS HARD TO TELL WHICH ONE WAS GRANDPAP COMING HOME, BUT I LIKED TO CARRY HIS LUNCH BUCKET.  

I KNEW HE ALWAYS LEFT A LITTLE BIT OF HIS LUNCH AND IN THE BOTTOM THERE WAS ALWAYS WATER TO DRINK.   I THOUGHT “THAT WAS THE BEST WATER I EVER DRANK”.

I REMEMBER WHEN HE RETIRED FROM THE MINES THAT HE WOULD COME TO THE FARM TO PLOW AND MAKE HAY FOR US.  

I HAD TO HAVE THE HORSES HARNESSED AND READY TO GO BY 7:00 A.M.   ONE DAY I REMEMBER WE WERE PLOWING OUT POTATOES AND EVERY TIME GRANDPAP PASSED BY PLOWING, I WOULD SNEAK UP BEHIND HIM AND BOOT HIM IN THE SEAT OF THE PANTS, (WE ALWAYS HAD FUN WORKING).  

HE SAID IF I DID THAT AGAIN, HE WAS GOING TO WOPE ME.   I LET HIM GO BY TWICE, THEN I DID IT AGAIN.  

I KNEW THAT I COULD RUN REAL FAST AND HE PROBABLY WOULD BE FAST ENOUGH TO CATCH ME.   HE WAS RETIRED FROM THE COAL MINES AND PRETTY OLD "I THOUGHT".   MAN WHEN I DID IT TO HIM THE LAST TIME HE YELLED AND THROUGH THE REINS FROM AROUND HIS HEAD AND CAME AFTER ME YELLING.   I TOOK OFF AND RAN FOR A SPOT IN THE FENSE THAT I KNEW I COULD JUMP.   WHEN I JUMPED THE FENCE I TRIPPED AND HERE CAME GRANDPAP OVER THE FENSE ON TOP OF ME.  

HE NEVER LAUGHED SO HARD IN HIS LIFE, HE SAID THE LOOK ON MY FACE WAS SO FUNNY.   I NEVER KNEW HE COULD MOVE SO FAST AND JUMP SO HIGH AT HIS AGE.

THERE IS SO MUCH I CAN TELL ABOUT THIS GUY THAT THERE IS NOT ENOUGH ROOM ON THE INTERNET FOR IT ALL.

I LOVED AND MISS HIM.