Grandpa Al: Living the good life at age 94

My Grandpa is not your average 94-year-old. I am very proud to be his granddaughter, and grow even more proud of him with each passing year as he continues to amaze me with his youthful outlook and never ending “joie de vivre”. A few months ago when I went to Calgary to visit him, I almost didn’t recognize him when he came to pick me up at the airport. I was shocked, but also extremely impressed, to see his smiling face pull up beside me at the passenger pick-up and happily show off his new hybrid car. It’s not every day that you see someone in his generation driving hybrid vehicles, and I had always just assumed that I would be the first member of my family to own a hybrid (if I ever were to own a car). As I got into the car I told him this, and he looked back at me in surprise and said “Now why’s that, dear? A hybrid just makes more sense!”.

Photo credit: Matt Korinek

He told me that a hybrid works very well for his lifestyle and he is very happy with all of the money he saves on gas. Not that he drives his car all that often, really. When there isn’t too much snow to contend with he can often be seen riding his bicycle through the streets of Calgary, as he thinks that biking is the best way to get around, both for keeping him young and fit and for helping the environment.
I have always considered Grandpa to be an environmentalist, although he might not define himself quite the same way. Growing up, his generation experienced some tough times, such as the Great Depression and the Second World War, which encouraged people to live in a much different way than my generation does. Money was not so easy to come by, which meant people made less frivolous purchases, and learned how to fix something once it broke so that they didn’t have to buy a new one. My mom loves going to his place and seeing the very same toaster in the kitchen that they bought when she was a young girl. Sure, Grandpa has had to replace the cord a couple of times and tinker around with the wiring every couple of years, but according to him it still works just as well as it did back in the 50’s! Compare that to the electronics of our time – more often than not, it is unfortunately cheaper and easier just to buy a new piece of equipment than to have your current one fixed. In that sense, I think my generation needs to think carefully before placing so much blame on the previous generations for how they treated the planet, as we sometimes do.
My Grandpa is a long-time supporter of WWF’s and had the opportunity to join Steven Price on a walk through Fish Creek Provincial Park in Calgary along with some other WWF supporters back in 2011, when he was just a young man of 92. When I asked Grandpa afterwards how he had enjoyed the walk, he said it was really great to get out and learn so much about nature from Steven. But, he added lowering his voice to a whisper, “I do wish that we could’ve walked just a little bit faster”.