In March, an Artist in Residence came to our school. Her name was Peg Gignoux, and she helped us create hand-made books having to do with our personal hero. In Language Arts, we wrote stories about why our hero was special to us. I hope you enjoy mine!

My Hero

Allen Dickstein
By Samantha Baker

My grandfather, Allen Dickstein, was born on March 21, 1930, in St. Louis, Missouri. He is my mother’s father. My grandfather is eighty-one years old. I consider him my personal hero. Read on to learn why!

My grandfather  grew up in Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. Because he grew up during the Great Depression, my grandfather moved around a lot to where ever his dad could find a job. He was born in St. Louis, but he moved to Kansas when he was five-years old. My grandfather moved back to St. Louis for first grade. He does not remember what his houses were like when he lived in St. Louis or Kansas. My grandfather remembers where he lived the second time he lived in St. Louis, though. Initially, his family rented out several rooms in a big, white wooden house that was divided up into small apartments. The house was two stories high and he lived on the second floor. My grandfather and his family then moved into a flat in a two-story-high red-brick building. His mother was named Rose and his father was Samuel. Samuel died during my grandfather’s first year of high school. My grandfather had three siblings. His oldest brother, Sydney, he never got to meet because he died at a very young age. He also had two older sisters named Eleanor and Florence.
My grandfather went to many different schools. For first grade, he attended Clark School. He went to Pierre LaClade from second through eighth grade. For high school, he went to Solden High School. My grandfather lived very far away from high school. Since the schools did not run bus systems and his family did not own a car, he took a public bus for several miles before transferring to an electric streetcar for another several miles. The streetcar would drop him off near school and he would walk the rest of the way. It took him about half and hour to get to school!
My grandfather really enjoyed history. He does not know why. Since there were no organized sports when my grandfather was growing up, a group of kids would just gather in someone’s back yard or a big, vacant lot to play ball. When he was little, my grandfather, wanted to be an architect because he liked to build things. After high school he took one semester of architecture at Washington University. After that he had to stop because he could not afford it. There was no one to pay his tuition, and even though he had a half-scholarship for one semester, he worked for the other half. My grandfather also had to work all through high school.
After his one semester of college, my grandfather joined the Air Force. He worked for the Early Detection and Warning Unit in Burlington, Vermont. Someone would sit in front of a huge map with a grid on it. When a plane flew into the area, it would show up on the map as a little light. The person would call out the coordinates where the plane was located. Then, another person, who stood behind a clear plastic screen with another coordinate grid, would write the path of the plane. As the plane moved, the map person would continue to call out the coordinates to the clear grid person until the plane was out of their area. Before a flight, all pilots had to file a flight plan which showed their route. My grandfather’s  unit would know if there was an unexpected plane. The reason for this job was because America was at war with Korea. Since Russia was helping Korea, Americans  were worried that the Russians might fly planes to bomb America. The grid system would be able to locate the planes. My grandfather told me that because the clear grid person had to write numbers backwards so that people on the other side could read them. It was hard to figure out which numbers were forward and which were backward because you became so used to writing them both ways. After serving for two years in the Air Force, my grandfather was able to attend Washington University for four years because of the GI Bill. He became an engineer.
In 1966, my grandfather married Sandra Osheroff. They had three children, my mom, Rachel, my aunt, Lisa, and my uncle, Michael. My grandfather now has eight grandchildren, my sister Anna and myself, and my cousins, Sabrina, Alison, Evan, Jocelyn, Alex, and Shane. My grandfather goes by three names among the grand kids. For Alison, Evan, and Alex he is Lee Lee, but for the rest of us he is Zada. All of the grandchildren call him the Pickle Monster, after a hide-and-seek and escape game he plays with us. He now travels to Seattle, Washington and San Antonio, Texas, because that is where my cousins live. He does not need to travel to visit us because he moved from where he was living in Orlando, Florida, to Hillsbourough, North Carolina after my grandmother died in 2003. My grandfather is definitely a hero, not only in my life but in other’s too.

My grandfather has many heroic traits, but one of the main ones is his generosity. He uses this trait to help others in need. For the past year or so my grandfather has worked for Habitat for Humanity. Habitat for Humanity is an organization that builds houses for people who cannot afford to buy a house on their own. Recipients still have to pay for the house, but the cost is greatly reduced and they get help applying for a loan. Volunteers do all of the work, from hammering in nails to landscaping yards. My grandfather learned about Habitat for Humanity work from my mom. My grandfather’s main job is to put on the vinyl siding, although he also does some painting. The people that he works with are all very, very nice. Zada works for them about once a week for three or four hours. Most Habitat for Humanity houses are rectangular to square and generally rather small, around 1,500 square feet. The Habitat for Humanity house recipients that my grandfather has met have all been incredibly grateful.  My grandfather’s work for Habitat for Humanity shows how he uses his generosity for the good of others. This truly is a heroic trait.
After serving for two years in the Early Detection and Warning Unit for the Air Force, my grandfather was able to attend four years of college under the terms of the GI Bill, which are benefits given to people who have served in the army. One of those is four years of college. My grandfather went to Washington University where he studied engineering. After he graduated from college, he became a mechanical engineer. My grandfather decided to become one because he loved science and math and engineers were in high demand at that time. He figured that it would be pretty easy to find a job. Now, you might be asking, “How does this show any creativity?” The answer comes in the definition my grandfather gave as to what an engineer really is. His answer was, “[An engineer is] someone who solves technical problems of various natures according to the principals of science and economics.” That probably takes a lot of creative thinking to work out problems. In fact, my grandfather’s favorite part of his job was figuring out the answer to a problem. He never worked on any new inventions, but Zada’s main job was to design heating and air conditioning systems for institutional, industrial, and commercial buildings. My grandfather’s final and biggest project was to design heating, air conditioning, and ventilation systems for the last assembly of Boeing aircraft navy fighter planes known as the Super Hornets. Still today, Zada is a great artist from his days as an engineer. Creativity is one of my grandfather’s heroic traits, and it is a good trait to have not only to be an engineer, but for life in general.

My grandfather’s third heroic trait is his encouraging nature. He is our biggest fan. Anna and I can always count on him to go to almost all of our soccer games, softball games, tennis matches, and swim meets. Zada is our family’s babysitter, since he is the only person my parents will trust to stay with us. He helps us almost every day.
My grandfather also visits my cousi ns quite often. He goes for holidays and special performances such grandparent’s day, my cousins Sabrina and Jocelyn’s plays, Jocelyn’s big synchronized swimming performances, and my cousin Alison’s dance shows. He is always happy and ready for a game of Pickle Monster or just a big hug. My grandfather’s commitment to our family shows his constant support of his children and grandchildren.

As you can see, my grandfather shows many heroic traits, and these are just three of them. But, how does Zada impact my life? As I said before, my parents trust him to take care of my sister and me.  I too would trust him completely on anything and everything. Zada is a great person to do anything with because he is so flexible and willing to try pretty much any sort of game you could possibly think of. I love playing Scategories, Apples to Apples, and Othello with him. My grandfather is just an awesome “warm fuzzy,” and he can make me feel happy just by being in the same room as I am. It is really great to have someone like my grandfather, my hero, in my life.