ADDENDUM
In
reference to my Uncle Bill’s letters, Juli had a question: who was the “Bud” referred to in many of the
letters? Was it my father, another
relative or friend, or did it vary?
The
answer is, without exception “Bud” refers to my father. I should have noted at the outset that all
the letters I possess were addressed to my father with only two exceptions…one
to Bill’s father Byron, which, like the ones to my dad; and one photocopied
letter addressed to Mr. Ephraim Stradling.
There were doubtless other letters to other people, including his sister
Dorothy (Dot), but I have no record of these.
The
photocopied letter introduces an additional mystery that I mentioned to Juli,
and attempted a quick resolution, but such was not to be.
As I
said, it was addressed to Mr. Ephraim Stradling and was postmarked September 14th,
1943. As such, it has particular
poignancy to me as it is the last letter we have recorded from him before his
plane was recorded missing September 23rd. The letter inside is addressed “Dear Pop and Aunt Mae”. So who was Pop, and who was Aunt Mae?
Ephraim
Stradling would be the brother to Byron’s mother Rose Stradling, so Bill’s
Great-Uncle. His wife was Eugina Elizabeth
Williams.
We know
that Byron’s wife Myrle died when Bill was not quite two weeks old (he was born
December 31st, 1921, Myrle died January 10th, 1922),
Virgil and Dorothy both under 5 years old.
Since the kids were farmed out to different families, it is not
impossible to believe Ephraim and Eugina had some part in Uncle Bill’s
upbringing (after all, My father Virgil was raised by their Great Aunt and
Uncle, Mary Stradling Cook and George Cook, who had also had a part in Byron’s
upbringing when Rose died).
The
“Aunt Mae” part, on the other hand, is more confusing. Neither of Ephraim’s wife’s two names could
be shortened to “Mae”. So the plot
thickens. They had two daughters and a
son. We will eliminate the son, William,
from contention. The daughters were
Myrtle, born in 1906, and Merline, born in 1909. We have a photocopy of a photo purported to
be of Myrtle and Merline holding a pre-toddler Bill on their laps, probably
close to 1923 (he looks to be about a year old). Myrtle was married to Roland Brimhall in
1923, Merline to Alma Barney in 1927, so it is possible that either of these
might have had a role in Bill’s upbringing, and you could probably reduce
either Myrtle or Merline to “Mae”. They
would both be Byron’s cousins, so technically not aunts to Bill, but here is
what persuades me to believe Merline may be the elusive “Aunt Mae”.
In
another photocopied page I have, there is a picture of Merline and Alma
Standing on a porch. On the same page is
a photocopy of a picture of Bill in uniform (the one most of you have seen),
and a photocopy of a news clipping reporting Bill missing in action (I will have to send this in an e-mail). Also I have a Provo Herald Veteran’s Day
Tribute insert section from November 11th, 2007, with the same photo
of Bill, and this tribute: “I always loved you and was proud of you - sis (Aunt
Merline)”.
So what
do the rest of you think? Who is
Pop? Who is Aunt Mae? I have some
contact information for a few members of the Alma Barney-Merline Stradling
Barney family. Perhaps one of them can
shed some light?
Love,
Dad
Hopefully a UT connection will have some insight. But when you start to get into cousins who are "removed" once or twice or whatever and/or are significantly older, "aunt" Mae seems to make as much sense as anything else, especially if Bill couldn't say "Merline" (there are some difficult letter sounds in there for a toddler)
ReplyDeleteI know that our Aunt Judy's and Jerri's kids felt more like aunts and uncles than the cousins they technically were... If we'd lived closer, I could easily see us adopting the "aunt" and "uncle" terminology for them, especially the ones older than you & mom...
Also, it makes me happy to think that Byron's kids were able to stay close in spite of being physically split up. It kind of adds a poignancy to the "Bud" letters that they were separated again so early in adulthood...
ReplyDeleteWonder what kind of catching up they've done since Grandpa's passing...