40 questions to ask Grandpa about his life

Sit with one question

Bring a photo or a tool if you have one, and ask about that day rather than his whole life. He can skip any question. Nothing here assumes a particular job, a spouse, or that he has already told these stories. If you use Kitchen Table Stories, these samples stay optional. The family can send their own, and those go first after the current question.

The forty questions

1. What is a nickname you had, and who used it?
2. What did your shoes look like when you were a boy, and where did they take you?
3. What game did you play outside, and what were the rules as you remember them?
4. Who lived next door, and what do you remember them doing?
5. What shop did you go into regularly, and what did it smell or sound like?
6. What did you carry in your pockets?
7. What was the first vehicle you rode in or drove, and where did it go?
8. Who showed you how to use a tool, and what did you make or mend with it?
9. What machine or piece of equipment did you trust?
10. What did a payday feel like, and what did you do first?
11. What uniform, apron, or work clothes did you put on, and where did you wear them?
12. Who was a boss or a teacher you still think about, and what did they expect?
13. What did you eat from a lunch pail, a counter, or a cafeteria line?
14. What meal did someone else make that you have never quite copied?
15. Did an animal live around your house or your work, and what was it like?
16. What did you do on a Sunday afternoon when you were not working?
17. What sport did you play or follow, and where did you watch or take part?
18. What song could you sing or whistle without thinking?
19. What phrase or saying did people around you use?
20. What body of water, park, or empty lot did you spend time in?
21. What did winter ask you to do that summer did not?
22. What was the longest trip you took before you were twenty, even if it was not far?
23. What did you leave behind when you moved, and what did you make sure to take?
24. What room did you sleep in, and who else was nearby?
25. What did people do for entertainment that cost little or nothing?
26. What holiday food was your job, or whose job was it if it was not yours?
27. What did you give someone that you were proud to hand over?
28. What letter, card, or phone call do you still remember receiving?
29. What did you and a friend do that nobody organized for you?
30. What rule at work or at home did you think was fair?
31. What rule did you think was pointless, and did you follow it anyway?
32. What did your hands look like at the end of a hard day?
33. What are you glad a younger person does not have to do the way you did?
34. What convenience came along later that you were happy to use?
35. What place should someone visit because it mattered to you, and what should they look for?
36. What story about your work do you like telling because it is funny?
37. What did you do to mark a birthday, yours or someone else's?
38. What would an ordinary Tuesday with you have looked like at forty?
39. What are you still curious about?
40. What question would you like a grandchild, or any younger person, to ask you?

Pricing