Wilfried, the reason I translated them as grandfather and grandmother respectively is that in the Amish dialect, one's mother is 'die mum' or, as in my case, 'die mem'. Father is 'der dad (dat)' or 'der pop' or as we said it, 'der deddy'. Even among my cousins, our pronunciation was different. One cousin's family said 'daddy', in straight English.

Grandparents, on the other hand, were '(gross)dawdy' and '(gross)mummy'.

I pictured Granddaddy and Grandmom taking care of a small flock of sheep and the chickens as their contribution to the Amish extended family. Each generation does what it is capable of.