Grandalf Productions
My daughter’s first daughter arrived, April 26, 2002. As the family gathered to see the little bundle of mixed DNA, the discussion turned to how this drop of our humanity would address her parent’s progenitors.
Her father’s people had already settled on “Nana” and “Papa.”
Her mother, having loved Louisa May Alcott’s Little Woman, staked out “Marmie” for my wife. That left me as the only un-designated grandparent. I had grown up using Grandmaw and Grandpaw for my own grandparents. So, I prepared to take on the mantle of “Grandpaw.”
My son-in-law protested. “Your wife has a literary name. Why would you, a professor of literature, not do the same?”
“Well,” I responded, “I can’t think of any characters that would suit me in that role.”
“How about ‘Grandalf,’ after Tolkien’s wizard Gandalf?”
Having taught The Lord of the Rings for almost 25 years in my Inklings course, I could hardly refuse the honor of such a title. Besides, I do love a good pun.
From that time, I labeled my handout booklets for my classes: A Grandalf Production. After employing this tag for several years, one of my students presented me with a designed coffee mug: Editor-in-Chief of Grandalf Publishing.
So with the publication of my first book, Collection Dust: Sonnets Thus Far, I felt mandated to bring along Grandalf Productions for the ride.
Ronald E. Wheeler with Grandalf Productions 