MY GRANDFATHER WAS A GENIUS

 

       My maternal grandfather, Peter Haugland, once remodeled The Egg and I author, Betty MacDonald's house on Vashon Island.  She said he was a genius.

       He was a carpenter and cabinet maker in the days when they did all the work in building a house, not just specialized on one part of it.  And he built his last house at the age of 88.

       He died just short of 98, and I was privileged to be one of the pall bearers at his funeral. Of course he had built his coffin, too.