My Dad's Dad Was blinded by mustard gas in WWI and sent home where his vision gradually returned. He raise a dozen children in McKeesport, PA even though his wife died when my Dad was only 7. Together with his oldest daughter and her husband, he raised his children and his grandchildren and then his son, also Emerson, died on Corregidor Island in WWII trying to defend the entrance to Manila Bay. His Daughter Donna also died young, of an epileptic seizure. She began having the seizures at age 2 after she fell on her head, while an elder sibling was swinging her around and didn't catch her. She lived to be 18. Grandpa was calm and wonderful about most things but became very intrusive and belligerent if he saw adults tossing babies in the air. Total strangers learned from what happened to his daughter. Maybe his bellowing saved someone else's child.
Oddly enough when I was a young adult, we started hearing stories that he had another family, also in McKeesport and also with a dozen children and that in both families the elder daughter was named Dorothy. Finally I tracked down this other Dorothy and we compared stories and pictures and war service records ad found out their truly were two different "Emerson Millers" living in McKeesport, PA within blocks of each other, serving in different places in WWI and raising a dozen kids beginning with a girl named Dorothy - but they were very definitely different men who never met.
How about that- Emerson is not a very common name! But I'm pretty sure all of you were collectively sighing with relief to know that all the respect and pride you had in your dad, granddad remained in tact when it was revealed that they were two different people!
that's a funny coincidence. I love it when anyone rises up to the defense of children in whatever realm of danger. That was one thing I appreciated about living in Switzerland: grownups were not shy to tell me how to protect my child. At first I was put off, but I came to appreciate the extra eyes and care.
October 14th, 2014
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