A Flawed Legacy - 26

I doubt that I slept much that night.  Every thing that moved seemed to wake me up, so I was really tired when they came and unlocked our door.  I was the last one out.  Everyone else raced ahead of me and past the "meal" they had offered last night.  As I was climbing the stairs, I realized that my leg was really bruised and it was sore when I tried to feel it.  It ended any thoughts of working.

The freeway was close so I walked up the ramp and headed East, wondering if my leg would get better the longer I walked on it.  I did not get much of a chance.  A small convertible stopped to pick me up and I was about to meet a USAF officer, in route to Lousiana to resign his commission.  Turns out he was commissioned as a Chaplain in the Catholic faith and had served the basic part of his obligation. On a trip home, he started dating again a girl he had met in high school and they had decided to get married.

Along the way, we discussed religion and I was learning more than I had ever known about the Catholic faith.  I also decided that since my leg was still very sore and I did not want to hurt it any more than it was, I would head for my uncle's home in Port Huron, MI.

He turned South as we approached St. Louis, so I thanked him for the ride and the lessons I had learned along the way.  My next ride was rather exciting.  Two young  guys and two girls headed for Chicago for a weekend of "sex and other indoor sports" is what they told me, so laughingly, they switched their seats, the guys in front and the two girls on either side of me in the rear seat.  I told them about my leg and so they kissed the sore "to make it well again" and we were on our way.  I think I spoiled their party as after we had traveled along for an hour or so, they decided to turn off and head in another direction.  I wished them well.

Along came a guy heading for a hot air balloon launch and invited me to go along with him.  I almost said "Yes" but by this time, I really had to go to the bathroom and asked him to let me out as we got close to a restaurant.  It meant I had to go over a piece of land separating the road he took and the direction I was heading.   As I was hurrying along I came across a mother pheasant and her new brood and she was not happy that I was there.  First time in my life I had ever been attacked by an angry bird, so I got out of there in a hurry.  There was a ridge ahead of me and as I got to the top, I saw a "Porta-potty" setting on the other side.  Brand new, complete with a new pack of toilet paper, just what I had needed in the worst way.  As I sat there I could see myself talking to a church group how the Lord was so good to meet our every need, as we needed them.

My next ride was not quite so pleasant.  The driver was gay and as we rode along, he began to control our conversation on his needs and desires.  I assured him I was not gay and had no intention of getting involved, so that began to irritate him and the more he talked, the more apprehensive I got.  He told me he was headed for Chicago, but as we approached an intersection, the car in front of us suddenly stopped and it gave me an opportunity to grab my bag and get out of the car.   That really made him mad and I thought for a moment that he was going to chase me to the highway I needed to take.  He headed my way and I believe he really tried to run over me, but he missed and drove off.  There was a car behind us and he stopped, telling me that he recognized what was happening.  A really nice guy who was really concerned about my safety.

We drove along chatting and he offered to buy my lunch when we stopped for gas.  I tried to pay for my own, but he wouldn't let and as we got back to the car, he tossed the keys to me and asked me to drive while he slept.  He told me to follow the GPS which would take me to his house, North of Toledo, which was a couple of blocks off of the highway I needed to get to my Uncle's place.  That went well and since it was night by the time we got there, he fixed a bed for me on their couch and told me to head out in the morning without bothering them.  I almost walked off with his car keys in my pocket and as I laid them on the coffee table, I realized I could have easily taken his car and drove off.  Since I had no thought of doing that, I walked off thinking about how he must have thought about it when he woke up.

I was very lucky - again.  My first ride took me through Detroit and just South of Port Huron.  From there, I caught a ride by a local who knew of the address where I was heading and went out of his way to take me there.  Blake and Eleanor were not home, so I made myself comfortable on a lounge chair in their yard and was fast asleep when they drove in - a bit surprised to find me there.

A Flawed Legacy - 1

To start with, we have to go back to the turn of the century, the last century,  We are going to the State of Michigan, in particular, Brockway Township, in St. Clair county and to the farm country West of Yale, MI.  There were two farms, about a mile a half apart from each other.  On one was the widow lady, Mrs. Cheeseman - excuse me, I can never remember her first name and her two children, William, the son and a younger daughter, Cora.  On the other farm, we find the Ensley Brown family with their seven girls and one son, the runt of the litter as Bill used to call himself.   In between those girls was Lillian.

This is all about those two, William and Lillian and the fact they were married on the "longest night of the year" in 1903 or 1904 and would have the first of their three girls on April 11, 1906, one week before the infamous earthquake that almost destroyed San Francisco, CA.  There would be two more girls, Bernice and Noreen, and two sons, Blake and Keith.  Sadly, Keith was still born.  Somewhere in the years to follow, they would leave the farm while William tried his hand at gas and oil marketing in Yale.  It didn't last long.  The children either went to school in Yale or to the one room country school house, a mile and half down the road from the farm - where I would also attend while on the farm.  We all attended and graduated from Yale High School.

Blanche immediately went to Port Huron, MI, to attend a business school.  Bernice would go to Detroit and eventually married Frank Bowden, an investment banker from Arkansas.  Noreen chose to go to Flint, MI, where she graduated from Hurley Nursing school as a registered nurse and would later marry Hayward Welch, who worked with his father at Welch Sash and Door Company in Port Huron.

It gets a little vague here as Blanche, my mother - unknown to us for several years, married a young man named Harvey Klemmer, who she described as a sailor on the Great Lakes ore ships and "given to drink."  The marriage was annulled.    As children, we never knew about this Harvey Klemmer, but he was obviously more  than a sailor.  We now know of him as the Harvey Klemmer who would eventually write a book (Harbor Lights) talking about his experiences as an aide to Joseph Kennedy while he was the Ambassador appointed by FDR to the British government at the outset of World War II.  Yes, the Joseph Kennedy who was father to John F. Kennedy, the 42nd President of the U.S.

Mother would move i=on to St. Claire Shores, MI, where she began working for a sales executive with the Diamond Crystal Salt Company.  His name was William J. MacRae, known either as "Bill" or "Mac".   He was divorced and had two sons, Donald and Edward.

Straight out of a Hollywood movie script, the young beautiful secretary married the handsome, older man and they lived happily ever after - well, not quite.  There was a stop at the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit where their son was born on August 28, 1929.  He was supposed to have been a girl as they had already named "her" - Shirley Lou.  And so it was the boy's name became Sherwood.  For a middle name, they chose Brown, my grand mother's maiden name - which you already knew if you are following this.  Jobs seemed to be plentiful so having left Diamond Crystal, they headed Southward to Ohio and a sales territory assigned to "Mac" by a friend, the President of the Ohio Blue Tip Match Company.   Apparently, they had chosen Toledo, OH for a home base, but then tragedy struck.  Their furniture had been shipped by the Ivory Truck Lines and stored in a warehouse in Toledo which was destroyed by fire causing them the loss of all the beautiful furniture "Mac" had bought for his bride.

Next stop, Cleveland, OH, more accurately, Lakewood.   It was now 1932 and mother was pregnant. Lillian - who I will start referring to her as "Nan" as that was what I would call her for the rest of my life, came down to be with Mother for the birth and then, suggested she take me home to the farm with her after Shirley Lou was finally here and everyone, apparently, was happy.  I will always believe that Nan thought of Sherwood would become the other son (Keith) who did not survive his birth.  I was apparently happy as I heard that I stood up all the way to Michigan.  One thing for sure, I sure did like the farm better than the city.

Now, it gets rather vague.  I was not keeping account nor do I recall ever seeing my father and mother until sometime in 1936 when they moved back to Detroit and somehow, I joined them.  I recall attending school there and it seems as though I made a couple of trips with my Father as he was calling on customers.  What I do vividly recall is the fact Mother would make fried eggs and I hated  the yolks, so I would eat the white and my Dad would eat the yolks.   Then my sister and I went to live with a lady who lived off of a canal in East Detroit and I used to love sitting on their dock, pretending I was fishing.  I remember it being 1936 as I saw all of the Landon for President signs in the school yard, apparently it was the latter part of 1936.   Somewhere in this time span, my Father lost his memory caused by a car accident he was involved in a couple of years earlier.  I did not know it until years later, but he was placed in a State hospital in Pontiac where his death certificate said that he died.

What I do know is that I was back on the farm and would stay there until I was 17 and immediately joined what was then, the U.S. Army Air Corps. 

And I plan to be back, tomorrow.