Of Armond
This is the guy I made the last post about wishing him a Happy Birthday. His name was Armond Jolin Yost, and he was my grandfather, on my mothers' side. When my grandmother adopted me I chose his first name "Armond" as my middle name. I thought I'd be cool I was 16, see my initials are J.A.Y. cause a that. He would have been 94 today, but he died in January of 85'
He died of colon cancer Not lung cancer surprisingly cause he smoked between 5-7 packs of cigarettes a day. He was a chimney.And always talked with his hands as he did. That and was always holding onto a cup a coffee with cream and sugar in it. Alot a people couldn't remember his first name or pronounce it right. So, they just called him Yost or Yostie.
The first picture is the one he used when he ran for City Council in La Palma, where I first grew up. The second is him behind the counter in the old family liquor store, in La Palma. He almost always worked nights in that store. In that second picture just in the top corner is a Coor's Neon Sign I still have. It works, too. Funny he liked Coors, so do I if I drink beer.
He was one of the quote "father figures" in my life. There is more than one though. Denny comes to mind in that respect.That little "mom & pop" store saw every "race, cread, and color" as the saying goes. Poor, rich, black, white, northern, southern, everything. I could call it "richness" of every walk a life.
I have pictures of when he was a boy and when young, but I've never scanned them into a computer. They look happier. The ones I put her make him look so serious. He could be at times, but he could also laugh too.
Like when I watched him and my great aunt "Vi" (Violet, my grandmothers aunt) in the kitchen cooking together. She'd say "Damn German" and he'd say "Dumb Swede" and back and forth it went as they cooked.
I'll end this post here. I could go on. That I could ;) Just I'll say maybe "He wasn't a perfect human" He knew it too and he knew noone else is either. He tried though, and more than try, he did. He was alive and as I am alive so is he. :)
GRANDFATHER'S CITY COUNCILMAN PICTURE
GRANDFATHER BEHIND THE COUNTER OF THE FAMILY STORE
