My Grandparents - The Edward Vahalik's

Here are a couple of pictures of my maternal grandparents, Edward and Emily Vahalik.  Both of these photos were taken in 1972, date stamped on the photo.  My grandmother always had on one of those little shirtwaist dresses that button up in the front.  Never saw her in anything else.  She wore a little fake bun with her hair up.  I think they both wore the same glasses, don't you? Ha!  I'm sure there were a lot less choices of frames in their day.
See the cup and saucer there in front of Grandpa?  He always drank his coffee in that kind of formal china cup, I don't remember them having any such thing as a mug.  He would pour some of the hot coffee into the saucer to cool it, then sip it from the saucer.  Wonder what happened to their china....it had little flowers on it.
I loved this house of theirs.  It had the Grandma and Grandpa smell, it creaked, it had a hidden staircase, a really neat and scary attic with beds and chests -- you know the kind that kids loved to explore.  Mom said they used to sleep up there, and I remember thinking how scary that would have been. I guess not so much, surrounded by all those brothers and sisters.
They had a pot bellied stove in the living room that Grandma would heat water and keep coffee hot on.  I want one of those...I'm on the lookout for one for our pavilion.

 Taken at their home in Yoakum, Texas

Not sure where this pic was taken.  Not at their home, though.

Yes, he smoked those cigars, and he always had a cane with him.  Grandma had one of those humps on her back from poor nutrition and calcium deficiency, what with having 12 children.  That's the reason I take two calcium pills every day.  She was a hard worker.

I have a memory of her picking up a rifle and pointing it at the chicken house and taking down two chickens for dinner once when we were there.  Can you imagine?