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Sunday, April 24, 2016

Passages

 
Another trip around the sun for me. I think I'm getting dizzy from the increased speed each year.

In other news, I finally found proof that my (half) brother has died. I've been doing internet searches for an obit for several years with no luck. For some reason, one popped up today. He died in 2008. Hard to believe it never showed up before. I'm pretty sure it's the right person. Correct age, city, and middle initial. Sigh.

This is the last picture I have of him, taken the day of our dad's funeral in 1976. I did also see him in 1977 when he came to get some of the things that were left to him.

I'm on the left, my mom (not John's) in the middle, and John on the right.

John S. Leary

He was 22 years older than I am, so was grown with a starter family before I ever knew him. He was a Seabee, stationed at Pearl Harbor after the war was essentially over. Somewhere I have his patch. I really need to start finding things like that.

I always have called him Brother John. He phoned me, out of the blue about 15 years ago, which made me feel really special. And he sent Christmas cards. Until the year he didn't, which made me wonder. Hard to believe it was eight years ago that must have ended.

He was 6'4" tall, so when I was little he seemed immense. He would make a swing seat of his hands and swing me between his knees and then up high and down again. I loved it! Visits from him were very special.

He was a Massachusetts State Policeman for a number of years, and then went into private security.

Mom always said that Dad, John and I all walked exactly alike. I'll take that as a compliment!

I've also done some unsuccessful hunting over the years for my nephew, Ricky. I think I may have found him. Got a snail mail address, so I might drop him a note. Of course, I haven't seen him since we were children. It's shocking to learn that he's 68. Wink.



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3 comments:

vanilla said...

Sad that you find John is deceased, yet it is important to close out such mysteries. Blessings.

Secondary Roads said...

At least you know why the annual card stopped coming. Sad. Here's hoping for better luck with Ricky.

Ann said...

Sad news to find out, at least you finally know