I want to take a little time to tell you about my granddad. First off we never referred to him as that. Everyone called him "jim" or "pop". It was never dad or grandpa. That was just the way of things.
Henderson Gerald Burns was born in Los Angeles in the year of 1918. He was adopted by my great grand parents at birth after their first child had succumbed to tuberculosis. By the age of 5 he was blinded from a severe case of glaucoma in the eyes which is a disease that involves optic nerve pressure causing immense pain. He eventually had both of his eyeballs removed from his sockets because of the pain and remained blind ever since.
Though my grandpa was blinded and severely handicapped in a time when someone with such a disability would be looked down upon, he never let that get in the way of living as much a normal life as possible.
He graduated with a PhD in Psychology and taught at Los Angeles City College for over 25 years or more. He married my grandmother Dorothea Bannerman and started a family that was my Aunt Patsy and my dad Gordon Burns in Silver Lake, California. He would often walk to the college with his children helping him in tow. He always enjoyed having things vividly described to him and memorizing the location of things around him.
He was also a devoted musician and learned to play the piano memorizing pieces of music by ear and playing them to near perfection. It was not until his last days that I would ever hear him hit a note off key. He was our own Ray Charles.
When his first wife Dorothea passed he later married her sister Elizabeth Gwynne and they lived happily until Beth passed in 1996. From then on he continued to be the faithful Patriarch of our large family even amidst his diminishing health due to cancer and loss of hearing.
He never let on that he was weak or disabled. A mental toughness that lives on in his children and grand children
He was always an active socialite and had an outgoing personality. There was never a dull moment with his quick wit and humor. I always remember his fondness for limericks which are 5 line rhymes usually entailing a witty punchline.
I guess I could go on and on about the amazing things I had in a grandad, like the footage of him riding a bicycle on his own, or his ability to tell by the turn and movement of a car where exactly in town he was heading. I could go on for hours but I only have a few minutes because that is just the way of things.
I sit here in Redding far away from the two homes that my grandfather lived in reflecting on the life he had led wishing he could still be here. Maybe even wishing that he could have seen what his beloved wife and children looked like but I guess you develop something different when you lose the ability to see. Sometimes I wonder if he just had a unique of understanding things without the use of eyes.
I wonder what it would be like to see the world behind his eyes.
All I know now is that he left a mark on this earth with his life and i will miss him dearly.
Here's to you Gross Pop.
Ode to Jim
There once was a man named Jim
whose great heart was never slim
Though he joked a lot
and often put you on the spot
It was always a joy to be with him
by Grandson Nolan
`
