Father’s Day

I’ve written about my Dad in the past, but this year I decided to give a little love to my maternal uncle, Bill. You see, for roughly 18 months he effectively was my father. Dad was stationed in Korea for that year and a half, and Mom and I lived with Uncle Bill and my Grandmother Carrie in Ohio while he was away. I was only 3 when Dad left. I think I knew he was supposed to return, but I had no idea how long 18 months was, so it might as well have been forever.

Bill was a smart genial guy with an easy laugh and a welcoming manner. As my mother’s older brother, he was 7 years her senior, he had left school early and worked to support the family, when my maternal grandfather, George, left my grandmother for another woman. This may have been a good thing. George had a substance abuse problem with opiates and alcohol. And apparently he had some trouble with fidelity, subsequently burning through three more marriages. Anyway, Bill, became the “man of the house” at age 13 and shouldered the responsibility without complaint.

Bill called me Buddy most of the time, and I kind of liked have a second name. He would kid and joke with me, give me a ride on his back or shoulders, and let me “help” with chores around the house, like picking up my toys.

He was my model of what a man should be for that year and a half in my young life, and I couldn’t have asked for much better. Unlike his father, he had integrity. His word meant something. He treated my mom and grandmother as equals to himself, and he was fair. If my cousin, Bobby, and I got in a fight, he would arbitrate the dispute. Somehow reasoning with 3- and 4-year-olds, a truly remarkable skill! Of course, I was much older before I understood all this. At that time, I just knew this man could be trusted, and I liked him, and he liked me. I knew this because he called me his buddy.

What moved me to write about my uncle is the picture below. I found it in among my mother’s things. It shows Uncle Bill wearing MacArthur sunglasses, sitting in his backyard in a lawn chair with a board across his lap, and a big old mechanical typewriter on the board. The picture was probably taken in the late 1940s to early 1950s. He was obviously not only a good man, but way ahead of his time. I believe this is a picture of the very first laptop.

Way to go Uncle Bill!