My grandfather was famous as the Baton Rouge Teamster leader who helped Bobby Kennedy send Jimmy Hoffa to prison in 1964, and he may have also been involved with the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy. He was Edward Grady Partin Senior, a rapist, murderer, thief, and adulterer who Hoffa described as “a big, rough man who could charm a snake off a rock.” U.S. Attorney General Bobby Kennedy forgave my grandfather’s transgressions in exchange for him committing perjury against Jimmy Hoffa, and Hoffa was sent to prison based on my grandfather’s testimony. Ed Partin was portrayed by Brian Dennehy in the 1983 film about Kennedy and Hoffa, “Blood Feud,” and by Craig Vincent in Martin Scorsese’s 2019 film about Hoffa’s disappearance, “The Irismhan.” Both actors were huge men who accurately portrayed my grandfather as Hoffa’s confidant, but neither of the films disclosed our family history.

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She stirred the eggs a cast iron skillet slowly, being careful not splash the thin layer of hot olive oil. She was standing on a small four legged stool to reach the stove, and knew where to find a fire extinguisher. I was standing behind her, just in case.

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I was strolling near my home in San Diego when I answered my phone and learned that my mother was dying in a hospital 3,000 miles away. I hung up and purchased the next plane ticket to Baton Rouge.

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I was strolling near my home in San Diego when I answered my phone and learned that my mother was dying in a hospital 3,000 miles away. I hung up and purchased the next airplane ticket to Baton Rouge. Two days later, my plane began its decent and I stared out the window, worried and fatigued and lost in thoughts.

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I don’t know if my dad, Ed Partin Junior, saw his father portrayed by Brian Dennehey in “Blood Feud,” the 1983 film about Jimmy Hoffa and Bobby Kennedy, but if he did he never mentioned it to me.

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