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Preschool children meet honorary grandfather, 99

Harry Kidd, a nearly 100-year-old resident of New Haven Court in Saxonburg, gives out candy to Connor McGee and the rest of his honorary grandchildren at the preschool associated with Nixon United Methodist Church during a grandparents celebration on Friday.

Preschool children filed into the basement social room, decorated in the yellows and pinks of spring.

They sang four songs about thanking their grandparents while smiling and shaking with corresponding body poses.

The children attend the 4- and 5-year-old class at the Nixon preschool associated with the Nixon United Methodist Church, where the event was held.

Then teacher and director Jennifer McCall announced they had a special guest. Sitting at a front row table, Harry Kidd sat smiling.

Kidd lives at the New Haven Court senior living facility in Saxonburg. He turns 100 in July.

McCall told the other grandparents that Kidd and the children have a history of communication, but this was a first-time meeting.

Kidd creates small candy-filled crafts out of toilet paper tubing, which he sent the children one holiday.

In return, the children responded with crafts of their own, including a large Valentine's Day card with painted handprints, photographs and notes from each child.

Kidd said he has the valentine pinned over the span of two bulletin boards.

“It's a huge old thing,” he said.

McCall said it has been a back and forth relationship ever since.

McCall gathered the children for a photograph with Kidd, and afterward, Kidd passed each child a paper ball that held a lollipop.

Kidd's oldest daughter, Loretta Donaldson, attended the event with him.

“He always puts candy in the treats,” she said.

Kidd had a few flattened paper trinkets with him, which he used to demonstrate how he blew each one up with his mouth and then placed the lollipop into it after it is inflated.

“When I was a teenager, I used to make these in high school,” he said.

Kidd said he used to make them as water balls, but now supplants the water with candy.

Kidd's favorite treats to make are the ones from toilet paper tubes, which he typically makes treats for other seasons and holidays, such as St. Patrick's Day and the Fourth of July.

Kidd also makes his paper treats for the New Haven Court facility as well as Meals on Wheels and nursing homes.

McCall said it is nice to see the blending of generations. She said the children seem to connect with Kidd well because of the man's interest in crafts.

“They're learning they have a lot in common with him,” she said.

McCall said she believes the interactions between the children and Kidd will continue, even after a new set of children arrives at the preschool.

Kidd said he was excited to meet the children and to know that they made him their honorary grandfather.

“It's just an amazing feeling,” he said.

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