 |
| |||||||||||
|
|
| |||||||||||
|
BBHQ Boomer Essays: |
| Our Boomer-In-Charge here at BBHQ, Hershel Chicowitz, writes frequently about current events... from a boomer perspective. He is sometimes funny, sometimes provocative, sometimes a little of each. We hope you get a kick out of our Boomer Essays. |
|
Family has always been important to me. I was blessed to have been raised in a family very similar to the Andersons on "Father Knows Best." I figure the family television show of the 50s & 60s merely left out the part where my sister smashed the Monopoly board when she was losing, and ran up the stairs screaming, "It's not fair; it's not fair!" My sister was no Elinor Donahue. But my father always knew best!
As an adult, I have adjusted to being part of a small family. Of course, there is my sister and her family in Colorado, where, to this day, board games are forbidden in her house. Here in Tampa, there's my dog, Princess:
(You can read more about Princess here. And yes, I did name her after Elinor Donahue's character's nickname.) But that's it. Everything was calm; no kids, no kids on the way; no crazy aunts in the closet; no entanglements. I got used to it... except on holidays. Holidays are always... different.
A few years ago, however, I received a letter from someone in Corpus Christi, Texas claiming to be my second cousin. Suspicious of a scam, I wrote her back and said that no, there must be some mistake; there is no money in our family; she's barking up the wrong family tree. So unless she was writing on behalf of Ed McMahon and had a check for my cut of $10 million in hand, we are not related.
|
But she replied and provided names and details that only a family member
would know. (Yes, there are some family secrets that have not yet made it
to the Internet.) And all she wanted to do was learn about "my side" of
the family. Well... I was stunned... and flattered... and thrilled... and
still a bit suspicious. My cousin Diann turned out to be nothing short of an angel.... though she had no check for $10 million for me. (We still have ample personality in our family; the money, however, has long since gone.) Cousin Diann clearly comes from a kinder, gentler, attractive side of the family that I had no idea existed. Diann graciously welcomed Princess and me as part of her extended family, and has put up with our idiosyncrasies, including allowing me to post her picture here. (However, she balked at my desire to post her address and cell phone number as well.) |
|
|
In the 19th century, one of my relatives was a merchant in England. His
best friend, Charles Dilk, had close connections to the British throne.
(That's the two of them clowning around, over there on the left. Charlie
is the one in uniform.) One hot, sultry night, he got a little too close.
Charles was visiting one of the king's "ladies in waiting." Apparently,
this particular lady got tired of waiting, and well... Charles Dilk was
in the right place at the right time. When the king found out, Charles
decided that he ought to leave England for a while... for the sake of his
health. He talked my great-great grandfather into going with him. And we
have all been Americans since. This is him many decades later, after he became a distinguished American. (Note the high forehead -- yep; we are related.):
 |
One side of the family is from up north. Originally, we were known by the name Chicowosofski - part Chippewa Indian, part Polish, I think. That explains a lot. Sometime back in the late 1700s, the family name was too long to fit on an arrest warrant, so it became "Chicowitz."
I am told that that name fits just fine on those legal documents.
That's as far back as I had traced my family tree. Frankly I was afraid of going back much further for fear that out on some branch there would be a connection to the Kaczynski family. Perhaps my cousin harbored the same fears; I note that she did not contact me until after the Unabomber had been identified.
The other side of my family... on my father's mother's side, is named Coffin - a little ominous, perhaps, especially since they played a large role in the Civil War - on the losing side. They were southerners. That's about all I knew.
 |
My newly-discovered cousin and I exchanged more letters and then met at the home of our aunt, in Ruston, Louisiana. Aunt Pitty-Pat is a proud, southern belle. That's her, over there on the left. Her grandfather, Shubal Coffin, was a young boy at the time of the Civil War; but he volunteered, nonetheless. (Volunteered at the end of a rifle, Aunt Pitty-Pat suspects.) I was able to provide this picture of him (on the right). |
|
Aunt Pitty-Pat continued... the rifle that brought Shubal into the war probably belonged to Uncle Coot, who was eager to get the rest of his clan involved in a noble family activity. The Civil War provided such an opportunity. The Coffins of that era were poachers. "But they were good poachers," she proudly claims. We're not exactly sure just what Uncle Coot did during the war; we think he was some kind of gun runner. But Aunt Pitty-Pat remembers that he said he lost part of a finger during hand-to-hand combat at the Battle of Vicksburg. She remembers seeing the remaining stub when he told the story shortly before his death in 1922.
This is Uncle Coot, as an elder statesman of the family:
Very elder. (Note the very, very high forehead.)
Feeling a bit out of place and wanting very much to add something to the conversation, I remarked that I had read that historians recently confirmed the burial place of Stonewall Jackson's left arm, which he too, lost during the war between the states. As I see it, Uncle Coot's member is no less worthy or deserving.
So, for our first extended family reunion, we are going to meet at the Vicksburg Battleground National Park -- picks and shovels in hand. After all, we have family artifacts to uncover. You've heard that pigs are skilled at scavenging for buried truffles; well, Princess is an expert at fingers. I suspect it will turn out to be something like the ending of the movie "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" ("Look under the Big 'W'!"). But it should be fun... and educational, too. I'll be sure to let you know what we find.
 |
That's my dad and his sister, on the left; the photo was taken about
1920. And my sister and me, in a recent photograph. I feel better now, knowing that I am not alone... or at least, less alone. So, my message to you this week is that if you have not already done so, don't be afraid to explore your roots. After all, the Kaczynski family can't be all that large, can it? |
|
| "The institution of the family is decisive in determining not only if a person has the capacity to love another individual but in the larger social sense whether he is capable of loving his fellow men collectively. The whole of society rests on this foundation for stability, understanding and social peace." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan |
|
|
|
|
If you like what we're doing here at BBHQ, please help us by buying stuff through our link to Amazon.com:
| The BBHQ Album of the Month is "Old Friends Live on Stage (Deluxe Edition) (2 CD/1 DVD)," by Simon & Garfunkel. If you were fortunate enough to see them in concert last year, I do not have to sell you. The concert was terrific! This album collection includes 55 songs, plus their new recording, "Citizen of the Planet," and one of the songs sung by the Everly Brothers during the concert. The DVD was recorded during their concert in Madison Square Garden in 2003. For any S&G fan, this is a must have! But then, you knew that already, didn't you? |
 |
|
The BBHQ Book of the Month is
"Vinyl Highway," by
Dee Dee Phelps. You remember her as Dee Dee, of Dick and Dee Dee.
Together, they took a decade long ride on the rock and roll roller
coaster. It was a heck of a ride! Dick Clark, Quincy Jones, the Beach
Boys, Glenn Campbell, Dionne Warwick, Bobby Vinton... Dick and Dee Dee
rubbed shoulders with all of them. This is her "behind the scenes" story.
It's pretty cool.
|
 | ||
 
|
|   |
Copyright © 2003, Baby Boomer HeadQuarters - WWW.BBHQ.COM - All rights reserved.
