My parents really enjoyed the songs Marc played. We figured it out...my dad hadn't heard that mandolin played in about 55-60 years. It probably hasn't had strings on it since William's death in 1960. Marc, thanks again. You really made this an easy decision and a unique Christmas season. What I haven't mentioned to this point is that my father was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's two years ago. Honestly, in a few more years, this may not have made any sense to him at all. So the timing couldn't have been better.
@huffster, thanks for the converter. I think it's important to post this picture up. On mtbNJ, if there aren't pics then this never really happened.
The gray-haired big guy dead-center is my great grandfather and the mandolin owner, William. In front of him in the fedora is my grandfather, Joseph. On the top step all the way to the left with the shit-eating grin is my grandmother, Oretha. The boy in front of Joseph with his shirt out is my Dad, Steve. The rest are great uncles, great aunts, cousins, second cousins, neighbors, farm hands...who really knows. Best we can guess is this picture was summer of 1952 or 1953
To me, the people in this picture are the definition of the word CLAN.
