[ubermum]

On the maternal side ......my grandmother never worked.

My maternal grandfather ran a sugar estate (his wife didn't work).

I bet that both of those women worked their butts off....they just didn't get paid a wage for it. I would have hated to have run a household 50 odd years ago.

[Bel Rowley]

Paternal grandfather - Scientist
Paternal grandmother - Did some secretarial and seamstress work but mostly didn't work
Maternal grandfather - Left school at 15, worked at various jobs and ended up an executive at the Sunraysia Fruit Co-op. Also a real estate valuer.
Maternal grandmother - 'Bursar' at a high school for close to 40 years.

[Sunnycat]

Paternal grandmother - SAHM (she raised 4 boys)
Paternal grandfather - Police officer
Maternal grandmother - worked in a shop possibly a post office
Maternal grandfather - I think he worked in a factory.

[Minnieme4me]

Maternal GP, grandad worked in meat works then an ambo in myrtleford then when he moved to wangratta he was a milkman my nan didn't work

my paternal GP, im not sure about my dads dad all i know he died by electrocution (suicide) my nan was a seamstress

[la di dah]

Maternal, my grandmother was a professional bra fitter and saleswoman in a corset shop. My grandfather was a contractor, and sometimes a cabbie. He was a contractor when I knew him, he was very good at sketching designs and I remember vividly when I was 2, he would tell me stories and sketch the illustrations as he went. He also drove a big red pickup with ladders on it, and I was allowed to ride in it, which I assure you was a Big Deal to a toddler.

As a cabbie, he had to carry a gun, his favourite client was Andre the Giant, he disparaged a famous musician as "the rude sort of b**ch that eats fried chicken in someone else's car" and once sheared everything from the bottom of the windshield up off a big old fashioned Checker Cab, but lived.

He was always angry he turned 17 right as WWII ended so he didn't get to enlist but his older brother did.

Paternal, my grandfather owned a gas station and auto parts store, and my grandmother kept the books. She also was very shy about being seen as working, though she was, because she was a bit sensitive about class distinctions, but my dad said "for the bookkeeper, she sure drove a lot of trucks."

This post has been edited by la di dah: 20/02/2012, 09:43 AM

[kadoodle]

Maternal grandfather was a spy in WW2. He had a hollow tooth with cyanide in it and wasn't to be taken alive. When the war ended he worked as a diplomat before retiring to be a boilermaker and train driver.

Maternal grandmother didn't do paid work.

Paternal grandfather was given a "soldier settlement farm" after returning from WW2.

Maternal grandmother was a seamstress before retiring to run the farm due to my grandfather's ill health.

[FemboFerretOfDoo...]

My maternal grandfather was a scientist and my grandmother was a nurse and ambulance driver (in the war).

My paternal grandfather worked in the railways and my grandmother worked in the post office before she married him (had to resign once she married).

However, BEFORE he got respectable and married my grandmother, my paternal grandfather teamed up with his brother as a duo of roving magicians/conmen in Africa, playing mainly on the naivite of the native population.


ETA - damn you, kadoodle. I'm pretty sure I would have been the winner so far if you hadn't jumped in while I was posting with your James Bond grandfather. Show off.

This post has been edited by RootFerretOfDoom: 20/02/2012, 09:38 AM

[Unatheowl]

Maternal grandmother was a fashion model before the war in Austria. When they came to Australia she didn't work. My maternal grandfather was a glazier.

My paternal grandmother didn't work. My paternal grandfather started out as a Jesuit priest, then joined the polish army and was present at the Warsaw uprising. They came to Australia and he practiced as a seventh day Adventist minister until he died.

[ThatsNotMyName]

Peternal Grandfather - worked in a truck yard, used to drive trucks but was deaf in one ear then lost sight in one eye so couldn't drive any more.
Paternal Grandmother - seamstress and other random odd jobs to keep everyone afloat. Had an enviable vegie garden & fruit trees

Maternal Grandparents - dairy farmers. Before that my grandfather was in the New Zealand Merchant Navy then managed someone else's property before buying their own farm. After selling the farm in semi retirement in the 60's he built one of the first blocks of flats (Ocean Front) on the main beach front at Forster NSW, it's the oldest original building still there.

[tamjk]

Paternal grandparents were boring, he ran the family trucking and crane business and she did the book keeping.

Maternal grandparents were Jacks of all trades! Granddad was a stockman, did a stint as a truck driver and as a mechanic, they also had a dairy farm at one, ran a petrol station and a fish and chips shop as well. The only time my very progressive grandmother was not working was when Granddad was doing the truck driving and mechanics work. Otherwise she was working right along side him and pulling a wage for her efforts.