Rudolph Louis Parisian (1888 - 1973)

In the summer as a child our family would travel to near the small town of Luther, Michigan to visit Grandpa (Rudolph Parisian) and his wife Flossie C (Tift) Parisian in their cabin on their private lake. We loved playing in his forests and fishing in his lake. I remember that there were wild blueberries down by the landing to nibble on while waiting for our turn to use the only boat.

I remember Grandpa was forever testing us on our intelligence. by quizing us on various subjects. I impressed him my ability to discern North, South, East and West while being blind folded and turned round and round to try to confuse me. On Sundays Grandpa Rudolph Parisian would help us make ice cream in an old hand crank ice cream freezer and grill hamburgers (ground sirloin) for us on his charcoal grill. Those were the best hamburgers ever. Grandpa and Flossie watched a lot of TV back in those days, He loved Gunsmoke. One of his quotable remarks was "If I was Matt Dillon I'd get rid of that 'limping Jesus' Chester and find me a new sidekick". When I was fresh out of the Army I married my first wife and had a little boy by her. We moved into Grandpa's year around home in East Lansing Michigan to take care of him as he was getting old and senile. He loved our son, but for unknown reasons was mean with my wife. We found letters between him and a couple of his brothers some of which delt with genealogy. This was my start in finding my roots. Rudolph died while I was attending college at Michigan State University.