#77930 grandparents' occupation

[Portia]

It looks like I can add some variety to this question.

Maternal grandmother: secretary
Maternal grandfather: dry-cleaning operator and professional @$$hole
Maternal step-grandfather: cattle & ranching businessman

Adoptive paternal grandmother: school librarian and hippie
Adoptive paternal grandfather: high school biology teacher and hippie

Biological paternal grandparents: unknown, but probably East Coast WASPs

No SAHMs in the bunch. I haven't heard the word "homemaker" in a loooong time!

[Emiliana]

Maternal grandmother: secretary, writer, SAHM
Maternal grandfather: preacher
Paternal grandmother: kindergarten teacher, SAHM
Paternal grandfather: engineer

[Amity]

Maternal grandmother: schoolteacher, reading tutor
Maternal grandfather: forest ranger
Paternal grandmother: homemaker
Paternal grandfather: potato chip truck driver

[Portia]

So is a homemaker someone with no young children at home? Genuinely curious. Or is SAHM just a newer term that shows the increasing emphasis on time with children rather than waxing floors?

[Eirene]

So is a homemaker someone with no young children at home? Genuinely curious. Or is SAHM just a newer term that shows the increasing emphasis on time with children rather than waxing floors?

I think the second one. As for me,

Maternal grandmother: psychiatrist
Maternal grandfather: pathologist
Paternal grandmother: school psychologist
Paternal grandfather: medical device inventor (the only one of my grandparents without a doctorate!)

[Portia]

So is a homemaker someone with no young children at home? Genuinely curious. Or is SAHM just a newer term that shows the increasing emphasis on time with children rather than waxing floors?

I think the second one. As for me,

Maternal grandmother: psychiatrist
Maternal grandfather: pathologist
Paternal grandmother: school psychologist
Paternal grandfather: medical device inventor (the only one of my grandparents without a doctorate!)

#thumbsup

This is cool!

[Portia]

My parents actually defied the trend that I suspect many here have by being less educated/professionally successful than their own parents. One of the many reasons I hesitate to have children is that I have absolutely no clue how I would put even one kid through college.

[NerdGirl]

Paternal grandfather: Air Force. Initially joined as a musician, then fought in WWII. He died about 20 years before I was born, when he was only in his early 50s.
Maternal grandmother: Mother of 7 children. My father and his siblings all graduated from college because of her encouragement. They were the first college graduates in their family.
Maternal grandfather: Teacher. Mostly taught high school, was a principal later in his career. He was also in the Air Force, but was discharged for medical reasons.
Maternal grandmother: Teacher. Started her career teaching in one room school houses in Northern Alberta, then got married and moved to Edmonton, AB, when she was in her early 30s. Became the first kindergarten teacher in Edmonton.

[Concorde]

Maternal Grandfather: Farmer (I think-- I've only met him once very briefly)
Maternal Grandmother: School Principal
Paternal Grandfather: Salesman
Paternal Grandmother: Homemaker

I come from humble stock.

[Imogen]

Maternal grandmother: Farmer. Went to Tuskegee College, but got pregnant and had to drop out.
Maternal Grandfather: Farmer. Quite school after 8th grade.
Paternal grandmother: I'm assuming a SAHM mom since she had 7 kids. I don't think she went to school at all.
Paternal grandfather: No idea, actually.

[Violet]

maternal grandmother: stay at home mom as far as I'm aware.
maternal grandfather: commercial food and produce distributor for southwest US.
paternal grandmother: hospital things? She trained phlebotomists at one point, admin things another? Also, she had 11 kids and stayed home with some of them.
paternal grandfather: IRS employee? I know he started running their computers in the 60s, but I don't know what he was doing when he retired.

[Digit]

Paternal grandfather: medical device inventor

Seems like it would be pretty tough to make a living as an inventor, regularly coming up with useful ideas nobody else has ever before, then paying a lawyer to specify those ideas in the right legalese so others with their lawyers can't work around your legalese, and then finding and convincing people to buy/license your intellectual property. My hat's off to anyone who can regularly more than break even on that pathway.

[TheBlackSheep]

Maternal grandmother: accountant, homemaker
Maternal grandfather: teacher
Paternal grandmother: homemaker
Paternal grandfather: businessman of the highest order, until he lost his millions, anyway

[Katya]

Paternal grandfather: businessman of the highest order, until he lost his millions, anyway

Fascinating.

I was talking to a friend of mine a few days ago and happened to mention that my paternal grandfather was an airplane mechanic. She remarked that that was a really cool job, and then I got to wondering what other people's grandparents had done for a living, so that's why I asked the question.

[vorpal blade]

paternal grandfather: businessman (made a lot of money, then lost it), real estate developer, inventor (had his inventions stolen, didn't earn anything on them)
paternal grandmother: homemaker
maternal grandfather: self taught electrician, carpenter, prison guard
maternal grandmother: homemaker

[TheBlackSheep]

Paternal grandfather: businessman of the highest order, until he lost his millions, anyway

Fascinating.

My favorite part of his story is actually that he started as a sugar beet farmer in Canada and he probably would have been happy doing that forever except that he developed an allergy to his crop and the doctors advised him to go south to the States. So he went to college in Salt Lake and wanted to major in chemistry but he already had three small children at that time and didn't believe he could make enough as a chemist to support his family. So business it was. He did quite well until he was forced out of a company he founded some years ago.

[Portia]

My brother is majoring in chemistry and I definitely thought he'd be the rich sibling. ^_^

[The Moo]

paternal grandfather: farmer
paternal grandmother: SAHM (with 13 kids no less)
maternal grandfather: dairy farmer
maternal grandmother: SAHM