Annabelle Bruno

Annabelle Maddalynn Bruno was born March 28, 2006 to my oldest son, Jerry and his wife Cammy. She is our first (and only so far) granddaughter. We had our boys and it sure is different with little girls. For some odd reason, she really seems to take to "Papa". Must be a poor judge of character. Lately we've spent more time with her. Since Lukie left to go with his Daddy (Chris) and Mommie to Ill and annoyed, we haven't been able to have Lukie for "his turn". Annabelle is a sweetie and talks already. You just can't always understand the whole sentence. She has an amazing vocabulary for ~18 mos.

Lukie Bruno

July 2, 2004, I became a Grandfather. We got the call and headed down to Louisville, KY, where my youngest son, Chris and his wife Katie were living. Kim and I fought the traffic and made it in time to see Lukie soon after he was born. What a cute baby, or at least he was after his head assumed a normal shape. At any rate, next to my own kids, he was the handsomest baby I'd ever seen.

It was hard with them being so far away getting to see him grow, start to crawl, talk and walk, but we went as often as possible and got to be there quite a bit.



Lukie's growing into quite a kid. He has a terrific personality which reminds me a lot of his Dad. He looks like his Mommy's side of the family and has a terrific mop of hair. He's quite the character.




I've been so blessed this last year with them living here on Michigan, I've gotten to do more with him. I hope that when they move to Illinois this fall I will be able to see him enough.

Lukie's Mom, Katie, has a blog at http://www.lukiesmom.blogspot.com/

How to Start?

I've had this page set up for some time now. I've just been waiting until the right time, which I've decided would never occur, to start posting. I'm hoping to be more faithful in posting than I was in getting started, but we'll find out.

My motivation for doing this is not to bore you with drivel about my boring life. Rather, I'd like for it to be an artifact for my grandchildren, right now Luke, Annabelle and "TBD", for the day when they might ask who "Papa" was. Without trying to evoke "sympathy", the men on the male side in my family don't make it much past 60-65. After having gone through two heart attacks, the realization that this life is not endless is more immediate with me.

I can remember little about my grandfather Bruno. He died when I was about three. It is only lately that I have really gotten much information about him, and most of that was done through www.ancestry.com.

My grandfather Davis was with us until he was 80, and he had a much more profound affect on me. He was a sometimes gruff man, who worked quite a bit. I guess I take after him a lot. He also had quite a history. He was a one point the sheriff of Madison County, NC, and lost that position by a somewhat shady vote. He ended up contesting that result, and ended up losing. He later took a job as a railroad detective and was shot for his trouble, almost losing his life. He then came north to the Detroit area to find work as a lot of people did in those days and brought his family up here to live. Even though I knew my grandfather, I never really got close to him. I remember things like walking up to the store with him, or being with him and my grandmother when they ran errands before he went to work on Saturday, but he never really opened up to me. I'll always remember going to church with him.

So, my purpose is to try and record some of my thoughts and feelings as I go as kind of a record to pass down I suppose. Even now I sit here typing as Lukie sits with Grandma on the porch waiting for his Mommy to pick him up. I need to go...