Ralph Wellons Felt No Pain

My grandfather was famous for his high pain threshold. Two incidents illustrate this fact.

First was the time when we were on the back porch in the summer, maybe after a swim or getting ready to swim. He was spraying the cherry tree with insecticide and we heard a loud boom. The pressure spray canister was strapped onto his back and it exploded! It sounded like a bomb went off. I don’t think he went to the doctor right away, but eventually had some back pain and he ended up wearing a back brace the rest of his life. But he never complained. He had a brother-in-law who was a chiropractor, so he probably didn’t even go to the regular doctor.

The second incident happened after I had moved away and he had met Margie. He was cleaning up some fallen limbs on her farm, using a chain-saw, and accidentally ran the saw from his navel to just below his neck. Nobody knew this until several days later when Jay noticed that blood was oozing through the front of his shirt and he had to confess to what happened. Then Jay made him go to the doctor and get the wound cleaned out and some stitches.