Today our grandfather, William Patrick Kelleghan, turns 97. He was born in the Bronx at the end of WWI. He was 12 when the Stock Market crashed. His teenage years were during the Great Depression. At 22 he was drafted for WWII as a $21/month Private, and at 24 he had moved his way up to Captain, placed in charge of coordinating the mobile hospitals throughout France and eventually for the Battle of the Bulge. At 27 he was discharged and began earning an engineering degree from Tufts University on the G.I. Bill. At 29 he graduated and began designing bridges throughout Massachusetts. At 32 he moved to Oak Ridge, Tennessee, which had previously been one of the locations for the Manhattan Project. Here, he became a head engineer for the Tennessee Valley Authority, responsible for designing and constructing the dams, bridges, and nuclear power plants that effectively pulled rural Tennessee into the modern era of sustainable energy. Today, this feisty Irishman remains the funniest, wisest, and toughest S-O-B I have ever met. While I am overwhelmed by my sense of under-accomplishment compared to his incredible journey, he is constantly overjoyed by the fact that I am able to live a happy and fulfilling life. For this, I am eternally grateful, and I know that every patriotic American can share in these feelings. He has no clue what Facebook is and would definitely be pissed at me for this, but I felt obligated to share a bit about this humble and impressive man. Happy birthday Grandpa Bill and I hope you can get your hands on some New York Cheesecake down in Nashville.
Posted on: Mon, 03 Nov 2014 20:26:02 +0000