60 Questions to Ask Grandpa

How to use these: Grandpa has lived through things you can only read about. Ask two or three questions at a visit, bring old photos to spark memories, and record his answers so the whole family can hear his voice.

Growing Up in Your Era

1. What year were you born, and what was the world like then?
2. What was the house or farm you grew up on like?
3. How did your family get by, and what did things cost back then?
4. What did you do for fun without TV or phones?
5. What chores did you have as a boy?
6. What was school like, and how did you get there?
7. What big news events do you remember from your youth?
8. What music, radio shows, or movies did you love?
9. What was your first car, and where did you drive it?
10. What is something from your childhood that young people today wouldn’t believe?

Faith

11. Who first taught you about God?
12. What was church like when you were a boy?
13. When did your faith become your own?
14. What Bible verse has carried you through the years?
15. Tell me about a time God was faithful to you.
16. What hymn means the most to you, and why?
17. How has your faith changed as you’ve grown older?
18. How did you pass your faith on to your children?
19. What do you pray for when you pray for your grandchildren?
20. What do you want future generations to know about God?

Work & Service

21. What was your first job, and what did it pay?
22. What kind of work did you do most of your life?
23. What did a typical workday look like for you?
24. Who taught you the most about hard work?
25. Did you serve in the military or your community? What was that like?
26. What was the hardest season of work you went through?
27. What work are you proudest of?
28. How did you provide for your family in tough times?
29. What has changed most about work since you were young?
30. What advice would you give a young man starting out?

Family & Marriage

31. How did you meet the woman you married?
32. What was courting like back then?
33. How did you know she was the one?
34. What do you remember about your wedding day?
35. What was your first home together like?
36. What helped your marriage last through the hard times?
37. What were your parents like?
38. What do you remember about becoming a father?
39. What family stories have been passed down to you?
40. What family tradition means the most to you?

Being a Grandfather

41. How did you feel when you first became a grandfather?
42. What do you remember about meeting me for the first time?
43. How is being a grandpa different from being a dad?
44. What is your favorite thing to do with your grandkids?
45. What is a funny memory you have of me as a little one?
46. What do you hope your grandchildren learn from you?
47. What did your own grandparents teach you?
48. What do you want to say to your grandchildren that you haven’t said yet?
49. What makes you proudest about our family today?
50. What name do you love being called: Grandpa, Papa, Pops?

Legacy & Advice

51. What is the best advice anyone ever gave you?
52. What do you know now that you wish you’d known at twenty?
53. What is the hardest lesson life taught you?
54. What are you most thankful for?
55. What does a life well lived look like?
56. Is there anything you still hope to do?
57. What do you want people to remember about you?
58. What should our family never forget?
59. What would you tell me to do when life gets hard?
60. If you could leave one message for future generations, what would it be?