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Grandpa

My grandfather, Charles Crawford, passed away from Alzheimer's Disease on December 14, 2008 after a life of 84 years. He was one of those people who was everyone's friend. He knew everyone it seemed, and everyone loved him. These are the photographs I have made of him and his home over the years. I spent a lot of my childhood here. I have few photographs of grandma since she didn't like being photographed. I regret not photographing her anyway because now she had been gone for several years when grandpa died. His old grey cat, Molly, who was such an important part of his life died on April 23, 2010. Small animals everywhere celebrated, for she had killed more than 6000 other animals in her 19 years.

Now that he's gone too, his home will likely be torn down by developers and replaced with another of the shopping centers or restaurants that now surround his once rural and isolated land and there will be nothing left to remember him but these images.

94 Photographs                                Bookmark and Share

My grandfather, Charles Crawford, sits on an old metal motel chair and tries to get his cat to jump up on the other chair next to him.

 

Charles Crawford

 

A black cat with white feet looks out the window of my grandfather's house surrounded by heavy curtains.

 

Charles Crawford of Fort Wayne, Indiana wearing a ball cap with Grumpy from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

 

My grandfather, Charles Crawford, standing in the snow behind his house playing his acoustic guitar.

 

Charles Crawford

 

Grandpa's little grey tabby cat lying on an old rusty metal lawn chair next to the house. Two old metal motel chairs sit side by side with a cat on one of them.

 

Charles Crawford

 

Two of the old wooden dining room chairs that my father made in high school sit in front of the dining room window at grandpa's house. The shelves on the cabinet behind them are covered in family photos.

 

A cabinet in my grandfather's dining room that is full of family photos and small momentos.

 

Charles Crawford wearing a cowboy hat with his guitar in his hands. He wears a western shirt and is standing in front of the wall covered in his grandchildrens' art work.

 

The laundry room in grandpa's house with his ancient washer and dryer. A birdhouse sits on a shelf above the dryer.

 

A photocopied sign taped to the food cabinet in my grandfather's dining room has a prayer on it. "So far today, I've done alright. I haven't gossiped, I haven't lost my temper, I haven't been greedy, grumpy, nasty, selfish or overindulgent. But in a few minutes God, I'm going to get out of bed; and from then on I'm probably going to need a lot of help!"

 

A mean looking old cat with a weary look on her face sits on top of a sewer tile.

 

A gret cat sits on a pair of old yellow motel chairs by an old house. She is looking at something in the distance.

 

Two tabby cats cuddling and sleeping together in front of an old house with peeling white paint on the siding.

 

A wall by the back door of my grandparents' house with a sign that grandma made with plastic canvas that tells if the cat is in or out of the house. There is an old Pepsi bottle opener hanging on the wall next to the cat sign.

 

A refrigerator covered in souvenir magnets collected by my grandparents.

 

A curio cabinet full of mementos sits in front of a paneled wall in my grandparents house. The wall is covered in framed photographs and has two clocks.

 

My grandfather's mean old cat sits on my uncle Danny Smith's lap at grandpa's house.

 

A pile of rusting junk in my grandfather's backyard with an old wooden chest, an old bicycle, and an old school chair overgrown with weeds.

 

Vines growing up the back of an old rusted out clothes washing machine on the pile of junk behind my grandfather's house.

 

My grandfather's rusty old yellow metal motel chairs sitting next to his house in the rain.

 

Charles Crawford at age 82.

 

My grandfather, Charles Crawford, laying on his sofa reading the newspaper. Grandpa has alzheimer's disease.

 

A pair of old rusty yellow metal motel chairs next to an old white house with peeling paint in rural southwest Allen County, Indiana. Photographed after a rainstorm at my grandfather's house.

 

An old grey cat sleeps in the window with her head bowed. She is half hidden behind a dark curtain.

 

My grandfather, Charles Crawford, looking out the window of his home.

My grandfather and his dog look out the window together. Grandpa has his arm around the dog's shoulders. The dog is a big white German Shepherd mix.

 

A bouquet of red roses sits in a vase in my grandfather's house with a wall covered in artwork by his grandchildren in the background.

 

My grandfather's house under gathering winter storm clouds. Grandpa can be seen walking in the background. Small white house in rural Allen County, Indiana.

 

My grandfather, Charles Crawford, wearing his hardhat from NIPSCO and carrying a shovel.

 

My grandfather's little grey tabby cat hunched over her food bowl with a mean look on her face.

 

Charles Crawford

 

A big white dog sleeping on an old brass bed. A gun rack with a cowboy hat and some old baseball caps hangs above the bed.

 

A cat sits with her back to me behind a kitchen cabinet because she was angry that someone had fed the dog.

 

Charles Crawford

 

An old salon hairdryer that my grandma used sits in the corner of grandpa's dining room under his retirement clock.

 

My grandfather, Charles Crawford, and his old cat standing by the window. The cat sits on the windowsill looking down at grandpa's hands.

 

Charles Crawford wearing a black felt cowboy hat.

 

A cute tabby kitten sits inside an old rusty wheel from a truck.

 

An old abandoned doghouse overgrown by weeds in my grandfather's back yard.

 

A rusty old bicycle with dried out rubber tires laying on a junkpile behind my grandfather's house.

 

Charles Crawford of Fort Wayne, Indiana.

 

A child's growth recorded in markings on the wooden door frame in my grandfather's kitchen.

 

The old weathered looking manual crank pencil sharpener that hangs in my grandfather's kitchen. The finish has flaked off and allowed the old pancil sharpener to rust.

 

A big white dog standing on its hind legs to steal food from a plate on the kitchen counter while an old man sits in the dining room putting his shoes on.

 

A pair of old rusty metal motel chairs next to my grandfather's house during a rainstorm.

 

A white house in rural Indiana with a melting snowman in the front yard.

 

Charles Crawford

 

An old cat laying on a sofa in a darkened room. She has a mean look on her face.

 

A big white German Shepherd mix dog lies on a tile floor with one eye open. He is wearing a nylon dog harness.

 

A tattered armchair sits in front of a wall covered in children's artwork in my grandfather's living room.

 

A child's drawing of a man and his house hangs on a window with a suction cup.

 

A big white dog looking out the window of an old house.

 

A walker stands in front of an old wooden bookshelf cabinet in my grandfather's house. The shelves are covered in family portraits and bottles of medicine.

My grandfather leans on the wall in his kitchen talking on the telephone.

 

Charles Crawford

 

My grandfather, Charles Crawford, eating a bowl of cereal for breakfast at his kitchen table. A prayer book from the Lutheran church sits on the table.

 

Two rusty old metal motel chairs sit next to my grandfather's house covered in snow.

 

A little grey cat stands on an old rusty metal motel chair while a white German Shepherd Dog runs in the background. The ground is covered in fallen leaves.

 

My grandfather, Charles Crawford, in his hardhat from NIPSCO.

 

A tiny bedroom in my grandpa's old house with sparse furnishings and bare walls. The two dressers are covered in momentos and family photos while a large piggy bank atands on the floor between the dressers.

 

Charles Crawford

 

The cabinet full of family photos in my grandfather's dining room. A rose sticks out of the mail holder that hangs next to the cabinet. There is one of my grandparents wedding photos on the shelves.

 

A wall covered in childrens art and family photos in my grandparents house.

 

Charles Crawford holding his cat. The wall behind him is covered in his grandchildren's artwork.

 

The cat sits by the back door demanding to be let outside.

 

A grey tabby cat laying on a pair of old rusted metal motel chairs next to my grandfather's house.

 

A mean looking tabby cat with an angry look on her face lays on the bumper of a motorhome.

 

Grandpa's evil gray cat hunting mice around his old red barn.

 

A rusty old bicycle laying on a junkpile behind my grandfather's house in rural Indiana. The bike is overgrown with weeds and grass.

 

A pair of old metal patio chairs next to my grandfather's old house.

 

The area around the phone in my grandfather's kitchen. The bulletin board is covered in notes and several calenders hang on the wall while an old Pepsi bottle opener hangs on the wall nearby.

 

The old weathered looking manual crank pencil sharpener that hangs in my grandfather's kitchen. The finish has flaked off and allowed the old pancil sharpener to rust.

 

My grandfather, Charles Crawford, leaning on a walker.

 

A kitchen cabinet in my grandfather's old house with a calendar from the Great Wall Chinese Buffet, a doll's head, and several name tags from when he visited his grandchildren at school.

 

An old mailbox lays charred on the ashes on the burn pile in grandpa's backyard.

 

Charles Crawford

 

An old grey cat sits in the driveway in front of an SUV.

 

A pair of old rusty yellow metal motel chairs next to an old white house with peeling paint in rural southwest Allen County, Indiana. Photographed after a rainstorm at my grandfather's house.

 

Charles Crawford suffering from alzheimer's disease.

 

My grandfather, Charles Crawford, in the late stages of alzheimer's disease, petting his old cat who lays on his lap.

 

An old cat sits in the window of my grandfather's house looking down at a couple of old wooden chairs.

 

A gray tabby cat sitting on a wooden patio with an intent look in her eyes.

 

 

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Christopher Crawford
Fine Art Photography

Fort Wayne, IN

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by Christopher Crawford