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"Work to your limitations, but never exceed them"

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"Work to your limitations, but never exceed them"

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This has been one of my grandpa's main mantras throughout his life. He says he learned this way of thinking in the military and has applied it to all aspects of his life ever since. It is important to know what you are capable of, and work to achieve that. But it is also important to know when things are too much for you to handle or are out of your scope of knowledge.

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"After the Navy, I went to Ohio State and graduated with two degrees. A degree in lab and blood bank operation and a degree in business. After graduating your grandmother and I moved back to Martins Ferry and I got a job heading the lab at Bellaire Hospital. I worked there for 43 years. Working with and managing people is an important skill. The main skill comes in decision making, and there are a few things that you should know about decisions. The first thing is that when you make the right decision, see it through, work hard on it, and keep working hard after it. The second thing is that if you make a wrong decision, fix it. Take responsibility for your decision and work to make the right one. The third thing is that making no decision is not an option.

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"Getting old is hard, but I have been doing the best I can. My biggest fear is becoming a burden to your grandmother. So I do everything I can to stay in shape. I have an exercise routine that I do four or five times a week. I want to keep being active and taking care of myself. I want to be as healthy as I can be for as long as I can so I can stick around and see my grandchildren grow up. At this point in my life I am focusing on my loved ones. I love spending time with your grandmother, spending time with the rest of our family, and talking to old friends.

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My grandparents, brothers, and I at my high school graduation

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"Being a grandparent is the most amazing and important thing in my life right now. It has been greatest joy as I've gotten older. Being able to be involved in my grandkids lives, and having them want me to be involved, has made me so happy. Being able to watch you, your brothers, and your cousins grow from little kids like Lucy and Luke to young men like you and your brothers has been a privelege. And I'm happy I'm still around to see it all."

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"In the Navy we were given our jobs, and mine ended up being medical. I never wanted to do anything medical. The idea of being an orderly and doing all of the dirty work the doctors and nurses did not want to do did not appeal to me at all. At this point, I was trying to fail my courses to avoid doing anything with medicine. I got called in to the head nurse's office, Mrs. Richardson. She looked at me and asked me why I was intentionally failing. She said she looked at my high school records and there was no way other than self sabotage I was doing so poorly. Eventually she convinced me to speak with some Coreman about what they do, which convinced me that being a Coreman was what I wanted to do. I finally began trying in my classes, and I think I ended up graduating in the top 5 of my class. Without Mrs. Richardson I never would have done anything with medicine. As a Coreman in the Fleet Marine Force, I was stationed at Quantico, which was where a lot of the Navy's research and testing went on. I got to work on the first blood pump used for open heart surgery at Bethesda Hospital. It was about as big and tall as our fire place and probably took about 10 liters to prime it. I also got to work on the first Coulter counter. You asked me how my time was in the miltary, it could not have been any better. It is the best thing that happened to me."

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What was it like growing up in your house?

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What was it like growing up in your house?

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"Growing up in my house was hard but good. There were eight of us and my parents worked hard to take care of us and put food on the table. My dad was an alcoholic and passed before I met your grandmother. I still loved him and never resented him for it. My mom was the strongest person I've ever met. She was a special kind of strong. She spent her days on her hands and knees cleaning houses to make sure we could live a good life. She was so strong. She could have led a temperence movement with her attitude. Any time my dad would come home with any alcohol it ended up right down the sink. My dad was a hardworking, good man, but he had his weakness. I swore I would never do that to my family. I never could drink in front of my mother. We would throw holiday parties with drinks for whoever wanted them, but if she was in one room, my drink would be in another. I never wanted her to see me drink a drop of alcohol."

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Tom Long was born in Bellaire, Ohio on March 18th, 1939. He lived in Bellaire throughout his childhood, eventually ending upin Martins Ferry, Ohio, where he still lives.

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Here is my grandma and grandpa with my mom as a baby. My mom is the first of four kids.

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"Becoming a parent was another one of those great things that have happened to me in my life. I have had the privilege of watching your mother and your aunt and uncles grow to become the people they are today. From the moment I laid eyes on each of them after they were born, I knew I needed to love and care for them."

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Here's a picture of my grandparents while they were dating. Growing up with them in my lives, they have exemplified what it means to love.

"I met your grandmother after leaving the Navy and going to start my job at Bellaire Hospital. She was the first person I saw when I got there, she was a new secretary, and I knew I would marry her. Before the day was over I had called her father and told him I was going to marry his daughter one day. It took me two years of trying for her to go out with me, but thankfully I kept going. She was as beautiful then as she is now."

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Here is my grandpa with some kids from his neighborhood. 

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"I know it sounds hard to believe, but my first memory was from when I was three, and I remember it distinctly. I was shooting a bow and arrow my brother had bought me. We were playing by the post office and one of my arrows landed on the roof. The janitor told us he would get it down for us and bring it to us when he got the chance. We had recently moved across town, but sure enough, he showed up at our door a few days later with my arrow."

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My grandpa was the youngest of eight kids in his family. The first house they lived in was on Federal Avenue, which has a Guinness World Record for being the smallest avenue in the world.

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"Your grandmother and I got married in 1965. It was one of the happiest days of my life. I knew I was going to marry her from the moment I laid eyes on her. I loved her then and I love her now, she is the treasure of my life."

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My grandpa has been an avid golfer for much of his life, and still continues to golf. He recently shot under par on our local course, which brings him great pride to be able to say that at the age of 84.

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"During high school I was never sure what I wanted to do afterwards. And I can't say I put too much thought into it. From my view point, the only thing that mattered to me then was football. But after school I was working construction, and one day it started raining so our boss told us to quit until the rain stopped. I ended up sitting with him in his car, and during a period of silence I just said to him "I'm going to join the Navy." And later that day I drove to the recruitment office and enlisted. I don't think my parents believed I had joined until I was put in charge of the records of the enlistees in my area and had to drive to Pittsburgh to deliver them. Joining the Navy was the best decision I had made in life up until that point."