April 18, 1965, was Easter Sunday. It was a special day for my great-grandfather, John William Garrett Clary who was the father of my maternal grandmother, Donna Clary Barmes. After a ten year hiatus, Grandpa Garrett was prepared to give a first chocolate Easter bunny to a grandchild, this time, his first great-grandson.

Grandma Donna said that her dad loved nothing more than to watch a grandchild make a chocolatey mess with their first Easter bunny.

Grandpa Garrett was not the hands-off, stereotypical generational grandfather or great-grandfather; he was very devoted in his grandchildren’s lives whether it was getting down on the floor to play with them, go bike riding, have them working alongside him at his Boone Township farm located in Madison County, Indiana, or attending their sports or music events. Grandpa Garrett was also the center of all jokes, mostly as the targeted recipient. The stories of jokes played on him by his daughters, my Grandma Donna and Aunt Joyce, are legendary.

When I was in high school and college, Mother always ordered chocolate Easter bunnies from a police officer’s son who was participating in a school fund-raising event. Police Officer Pat Rice, a family friend and favorite who worked with both my grandfather, Leroy Barmes, and Mother, began a tradition of opening the boxes and cutting off the chocolate bunny ears. This was a fun, special tradition in which I returned the joke by giving Pat chocolate Santa Clauses with the feet cut off.

As an adult, especially when the sons were home, my chocolate Easter bunnies given to me by Mother, were crushed up to be used in pancakes.

PHOTO: This photograph, taken on Easter Sunday, 1965, is a favorite of mine. Grandpa Garrett, 66, is delighted as he watches 6 month old Darin (me) with his first chocolate Easter bunny.