One of the first lessons arising out of this exercise in preserving family lore is that we don’t remember the same things, and those incidents two or more of us remember, we don’t remember the same way.
Example number one is “Who really got knocked out, and who carried him home?” See “More Old Lore” below. Sandy recalls that Gene got knocked out, and Johnnie carried him home; I remember hearing that Johnnie was the “conkee,” and Gene carried him home, then got mad. That makes sense to me, because Gene was the one with the most assertive temper. Milly told that when all the brothers were in deer hunting camp in eastern Oregon, and Gene was cooking, nobody dared snitch a chunk of carrots off his chopping block while he was cutting—he would never slow down, and if you were too slow, he would cut your fingers off.
More lore seems to turn around how Gene became a beer and wine distributor. One version says that he was running a trap line in the Lakeside area, and that led to somebody’s realizing he could be a great moonshiner, and what’s the next step after rum-running? Become a legal dealer. Then there is the theory that Gene was working in “The Joint” when somebody came in and offered the opportunity—and Johnnie was disappointed because he hadn’t been working that shift. Gene thrived, but not before he and Kathleen took over their own bookkeeping—they were being ripped off. Not only that, one of their bookkeepers was renting their house in Englewood. When they re-entered the house, Kathleen told of being dismayed that the bookkeeper could afford such nice curtains that she couldn’t afford.
But there is no doubt that Gene shared in his largess. When Vake wanted to start a plumbing business, he borrowed $11,000 from Gene to buy a house with shop on two and a half lots, and to stock it with inventory, and to support West Lane Plumbing (and Vake’s growing family) until the business was up and running. Gene refused to take even a cent in interest, and Vake and Milly did repay every last cent, as fast as they could.
Speaking of largess, Gene once gave Kathleen a pearl necklace, but the string broke. Kathleen said she tossed it in a drawer, thinking it was a pretty, but fake. Eventually, she took it to a jeweler just to price getting it restrung—and told that it was precious, and real. (Since the Chinese have flooded the market with fresh water pearls that now can be cheap, our younger relative won’t be able to imagine the past value of real saltwater pearls.)
We have only slight information about how Pappy (Eli) sold “the Joint.” He did it without the knowledge of his three sons who worked there, for a figure they thought was a pittance. Sandy recalls, uncertainly, $10,000 in the early 1940s, but that would have been a massive sum at the time. Maybe it was $1,000? But as Jon point out, that way, no son, all of whom had worked there, was favored, and no women, like Sylvia, ran beer joints at the time. Vake joined the Navy, Gene was training Naval aviators in Wenatchee, WA, and Johnnie was working at Camp White, a military training camp not far from Medford. None of them was available to run The Joint. Jon recounts that they were pretty competitive.
As for incomplete information: What history books recount that places like Camp White were brought up and running before Pearl Harbor?
As for the brothers being competitive: it didn’t interfere with their closeness. Through generations, they, and we, their children, have argued, loudly. But there was no anger involved. I’ve hear that all Finns have loud arguments between the Leninists and the Trotskyites. But others have been alarmed: I’ve had boyfriends who didn’t understand that loud and adamant didn’t mean “angry”. Mark’s ex, Dr. Sue, told me once that when she heard us start to argue, she was waiting for the catsup bottle to come flying across the table—that was her background. However, during the 1964 election year, Vake supported Lyndon Johnson and Johnnie supported Barry Goldwater, and Milly did tell them that they had to stop talking about politics, since it was more important that they remain friends.
And here’s a surprise: Jon heard that Uncle Buck was a Melungeon! A Melungeon is a person of sub-Saharan, Mediterranean, and Native American ancestry from the hills of Appalachia— check out Wikipedia and the linked websites for the details. From the straight, dark hair, the deep set eyes, the prominent cheekbones, and the complexion that could tan, I can see at least the Indian part. But the controverting information: During the 1960s, Sylvia took an interest in genealogy, and traced Buck’s family to the Fitzhughs of Virginia—as in the Fitzhugh-Lee Mansion. They were Caucasians of the privileged class. When Sylvia was toying with the idea of naming their cabin on Siltcoos Lake with something pretentious to reflect a notable ancestry, Milly mocked the idea by hanging a cow on the sign pointing the way into their house. Buck and Sylvia loved the skull, and that was the end of pretension.
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