PORT ANGELES — “Twas a grand day when granddad got the Grand Old Flag on Sunday, the day Warren Harding Konopaski celebrated 82 years.
About three dozen of his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren gathered to give their beloved “Papa” a flag that had flown over the U.S. Capitol. The gift came with its own pole.
The family stood in Konopaski’s back yard overlooking the Strait of Juan de Fuca as one grandchild sang “The Star Spangled Banner,” another sang “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee” and everyone sang “God Bless America.”
Then they all sang “Happy Birthday to You.”
After he’d dried the tear or two he’d shed, Konopaski commented: “I’m feeling pretty doggone good.”
Family of ‘great kids’
Of his 12 children, 40 grandchildren and eight grand-children, he said, “they’re all great kids — not a cull in the whole lot of ’em.”
Konopaski served with the Army in India during World War II.
Afterward, he owned Angeles Pharmacy, from which he retired. He still works occasionally at his Coho Resort in Sekiu.
Both the flag and the flagpole arrived with help from the American Legion, but Konopaski and his family look forward to another Old Glory flying over his home.
His oldest grandson, Kolby, a firefighter in the Air Force, has promised to bring it home from Baghdad.
