Leonard Perry Edwards ("Pop")

Born 1887, San Jose, California; died 1970, Pacific Grove, California

Husband of Clara Elsie Donlon

Father of Don Edwards, Thomas Charles Edwards, and Martha Frances "Patty" Edwards

My grandfather "Pop" and grandmother "Gay Gay" loved in a wonderful mansion in the foothills above San Jose, where we boys would visitet every summer. It had a five car garage, a dumb waiter servicing the basement kitchen, a dorm room with beds for me, my brothers, and our cousins Tom and Bob Twist. There was a large swimming pool in the back, one of the first in the area - rumor has it that when it was firsst filled, it depleted the local water tank. We boys would roll down the incline from the hill to the house inside a B29 inner tube.

Pop had the biggest TV I've ever seen, with a screen about 3 feet wide. He also had a record player that would automatically load, play, and then flip and play the other side of your selection. He drove a Cadillac, which he exchanged for the latest model each year. I remember playing with the lever to open and close the windows electrically.

Luncheons for us boys were grilled cheese sandwiches, handed out to us in the kitchen. Dinners were more formal, with popovers, roast beef, and a box of See's candy passed around afterwards. And when we left he would shake our hands, secreting a two dollar bill in the process.

I got in trouble during one visit when I found Pop's rifle in his study, carried it upstairs, and fired it out of a window. Unfortunately it was loaded, and the bullet went through the kitchen window of the next door neighbor. Oops.

Pop on his front porch with Len, me, and yet another family Boston Terrier

At the pool with mom and my two brothers

Their house