David M. Teeter

Grandparents Four Good David M. Teeter

When David was eight years old, his grandparents could be found at opposite ends of the state. His dad's parents lived amid the Allegany Mountains near Flintstone, Maryland, just east of Cumberland, and his mom's parents lived across the Chesapeake Bay, near Ridgley. Teeter knew he resided in between, at the center, in the suburbs of Washington, DC.

In this memoir, Teeter describes the contributions these four grandparents made in his life as a young baby boomer. In Grandparents Four Good, he narrates how his grandparents' animals, holiday meals, informal teaching, and essential identity helped weave his developing consciousness into the American story. He tells how the paradoxes in the lives of the grandparents highlight the complex texture of that larger national tale. One grandfather supported Roosevelt, the other didn't. One grandmother remained yoked to an old established patriarchy; the other moved with freedom enough to unleash a vast energy in community service.

Grandparents Four Good presents four personal portraits, but it also illustrates the positive power of grandparental influence on a young character. The biographical and historical detail shows grandparents creating the future by simply living and reverencing the past.