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As readers of this column know, I occasionally visit Seattle, that city of stunning beauty in the Pacific Northwest. I don't travel across America for the scenery but to visit Clara, Louisa and Jack Dee.

Oops! I just heard you yawn. As a friend once said after I returned from Seattle: "Well, I guess we're in for another grandmother column!"

Well, yes and no. This column is also about billionaire Bill Gates and his family, but first let's talk about Clara, 10, Louisa, 8, and Jack Dee, 6, my three grandchildren who live with their parents in Seattle.

Forgive me for bragging but Clara, a fifth-grader who's taking gymnastics, won a prestigious medal in the Washington state championship meet last Sunday afternoon.

I had never been to a gymnastic competition and, frankly, all I knew about gymnastics was what I saw on TV during last summer's Olympics in China.

My only blunder at the Seattle competition was to shoot pictures with my camera --the one that's not digital but uses flash bulbs. So I merrily snapped photos until a voice on the loud speaker asked spectators to stop using flash cameras. Given high-tech Seattle, I was probably the only spectator in the place using a flash -- and blinding the gymnasts.

Sitting beside me at the competition were Louisa and Jack Dee. They, too, deserve medals for being "The World's Most Patient Little Brother and Sister." Gymnastic competitions, I discovered, last for hours, and they didn't even squirm (much).

But what about Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft who is an iconic figure in Seattle? No, he wasn't in the gym. My encounter with the Gates family occurred the following day.

What you might not know is that Gates' father, Bill Gates Sr., who is now 83, put his own stamp on Seattle long before his famous son. The senior Gates is a distinguished attorney, civic leader and philanthropist who is deeply involved with The Gates Foundation, which funnels millions of dollars to health and educational endeavors throughout the world.

One afternoon I was browsing in Elliott Bay Book Company, one of America's greatest book stores, and Bill Gates Sr. was there to launch his memoir, "Showing Up for Life."

Gates is a tall man with slightly stooped shoulders and a friendly smile. He didn't do the standard reading gig that authors do. Instead, he was interviewed by a friend and answered questions from the audience.

He described growing up in Bremerton, Wash. His father had an eighth-grade education, and he remembers the family's hardships during the Great Depression.

Gates grew up to be a lawyer but thought of becoming a schoolteacher. He and his late wife, Mary, would have three children -- two daughters (including one in the audience) and son Bill. "And they all turned out to be good citizens," he said with modest pride. What about his son Bill, the computer wunderkind? The brilliance surfaced early.

"I've never known anyone who exceeded the curiosity that my son had about things," he said. As a boy, he read prodigiously and "even at 10 or 11 years old he had an insatiable interest in understanding things."

But Gates declined credit for rearing a brilliant son. He thinks outside influences may have as great, or greater, influence on children than family.

He and his wife provided a lively household for their three children. The kids grew up playing cards and games.

"They raced to see who could put together jigsaw puzzles faster, and his older sister always beat Bill," he said as the audience laughed.

And what of the Gates family's vast wealth?

"Getting rich in this country -- getting really rich -- is pure luck," he said. "I don't want to discredit people who work hard, but really it's about being in the right place at the right time."

He also stressed that "extraordinary wealth is extraordinary, so you owe it back to society (to share it)."

But there are different kinds of wealth. And forgive me for sounding like gooey grandmother, but mine was being in Seattle with my family.

Rosemary Roberts writes a column on alternate Fridays. E-mail: rmroberts@triad.rr.com.