posted ago by New_believer11 ago by New_believer11 +3 / -1

In the 50s my grandpa worked on computers, I believe he programmed them. Clearly this was when they were huge and took up entire rooms. He died in 1975 when he was 41. Everyone that ever talks about him said he was brilliant. I don’t think he had a normal computer job at all. He and the family lived in lots of different places and often traveled for his job. One place in particular was Oklahoma. My grandma never told me exactly what he did. No one really knew. When my dad and uncle got close to school age he decided to come back to his home town and settle down. He got a job at the phone company as the lead communications expert. Apparently after he left he would get phone calls and be on for hours and would read off series of numbers (binary code?). The “phone company” would bring a company Bronco from up north every winter and give it to him to drive so he would not be stranded in the snow. My uncle also worked for the same phone company and this never happened for him The long windy country road (think very rural) they lived would get plowed everytime it snowed literally up to the driveway and that’s it. The road went on for quite a while after their house. When he died he had a full military funeral not just the Veterans but supposedly and supposedly had not served since the early 50s. I know he was stationed in Japan when he was in the military. Oh and he used to take my dad to a mountain base that no one really knew was there and my dad said he was allowed to go into off limit areas. My dad shared all this with me and he always thought there had to be something more to the story. Do any of you have any idea what he could have possibly been working on or was he just a computer guy from a small rural town in the early 50s. That even sounds weird.