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Friday, August 20, 2010

Revealing the other half Sepia Saturday week 37 (click here to go to the Sepia website)

Grandmother Esther Behrndt, Jerry 1 year old,
and Mother, Florence. 
I spent some time on the genealogy of Jerry's (the other half) side this week, so thought I would share a photo or two introducing him and his peculiar side.  I have often said that if I had known  his family, in particular his mother when we first met that I would not have ever gotten involved with him and he says that is why he lived far away from his family.  Further he blames me because he said until we were married they did not bother  with him, after we married it seemed  they had a place to spend summer vacations and they did.  His mother, Florence,  is 93 today is still going kind of strong (but not in the mental area)  and lives here in La Crescent in a senior apartment, though she really belongs in an assisted living place.  But that's another story and she refuses so we get the duty of overseeing  and providing for her.  It's most unfair as Jerry says he has now provided  and cared for her longer than she ever cared  for him.  As the first  born and  oldest son, I think he is a saint, because  this woman , Florence whose life story rivals "Prince of Tides"   has become the bane of our existence. 

She was the baby of the family, the  youngest of  five sisters and nothing like any of them;  then her second husband kept her in a delayed state of adolescence and when he knew he would be  leaving this planet apologized to Jerry that he would have his hands full taking care of his mother who was then about 77 years old....Shudder and so true.  She had four children but the two youngest are really into the ME ME generation and have little to do with her, her daughter lives in CO and about every  two years makes a dutiful trip here for a couple days to visit her mother for a few  hours.
1950 California  bound
As I said, Jerry is a saint, because as this  photo taken in 1950  shows, Florence who never had a  full load of bricks as they say,  determined she would drive herself and her two children, Jerry age 13 and Diane age 12, cross country to California, leaving Minnesota two months after her mother, Esther  who had cared for the children died.  Florence had met  the man who would become her second husband and my father in law, when he rented a room from the family, but he left for work in California.  By this time she had really worn out her welcome in the tiny town of La Crescent with her antics and had built her reputation as a "loose woman."  Not a good thing in a small town, especially the day she took her Sunday School class to the local tavern to find out if her current hot date was there!  You get the picture, people were not willing to put up with that behavior, not in La Crescent.  She was divorced from the first husband, Morrison, who enlisted in the Navy in WWII to get away from her but who also had issues, another story.  Florence had spent time confined to a mental institution for a year, committed by her sister, Jerry's aunt Myrtle, who begged to adopt Jerry so that she and her husband Joe  could keep him in MN. There was no way that he wanted to leave Minnesota and especially the family and friends he knew.    No Florence would not have it, revealing a lifelong pattern where she thought of herself first.

Jerry in Korea, Air Force  1956
 So there they are, Florence with Dianne, Jerry's full sister and himself in front of the home, ready to head to California.  Jerry is 13 and would live in Californian with his mother and step father only  less than a year before he would hitchhike  cross country back to Minnesota and live with his grandfather..and the aunts until he could enlist in the Air Force, photos to the left....  Raised mainly by his grandparents and then off on his own, I told you she was not a mother to him. This trip to  California would culminate in Las Vegas  where Jerry ended up driving them after Florence nearly killed the three of them in a head on crash as she passed a car  going up a hill into oncoming traffic.  Jerry took over driving, to Las Vegas.  Florence called Lyman from there and he  came to Las Vegas where they married and took them to California.  Florence never drove again, never got a dirver's license, sinking into being "cared for" and taken wherever she went...Her oldest daughter, Dianne, (Jerry's full sister) died in 2005 in California but she had lived a hard tragic life of multiple marriages, many children most of whom did time in jails and prisons, on drugs, alcoholism, etc. and on and on.... Well you get the picture,   I told you it's like Prince of Tides......really lots of dysfunction and more....

Home in La Crescent
This was the old family homestead in town in La Crescent where she and the kids lived with her parents and Aunt Myrtle and Uncle Joe.  Today it is an empty lot and Jerry says buried under ground somewhere when they tore down the house and pitched everything into the cistern is his original pair of skis.   Uncle Joe was always Jerry's hero, taught  him to ski and would have been an excellent surrogate father.  This is the last photo of today,  Jerry's Aunt Myrtle, (a sister of Florence) and Uncle Joe a World War II hero and all around interesting person....this is their  wedding photo where the handsome soldier from North Carolina found, courted and married a beautiful girl from Minnesota.   With the purple hearts and Bronze stars Uncle Joe had earned he was entitled to send a son to West Point.  They had no children and he wanted to adopt Jerry and send him there, it was not to be.  Makes you wonder how  very different  life would have been. 
Wedding photo Myrtle and
Joe Whitfield

I did not realize I would  write so much about  mother in law when I started this, but more to come in weeks ahead.  I think my husband  did a dandy job of  becoming a good adult.... showing that people can overcome their circumstances with will....As always, click on the title to  go to the Sepia Saturday website where you can read and see others' photos and posts.

13 comments:

  1. There are as many stories out there in the world as there are people. Some of us have a rougher time than others. Sounds like he does have a stable life and home with you. That is a blessing.
    QMM

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  2. I can only say that coming from the outside and hearing this story is all so fascinating. Living it would be a different matter, but as an old black and white movie in my mind it's utterly fascinating.

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  3. Amazing, the damage one person can do. No wonder they're often referred to as 'loose cannons'. I enjoyed reading this post and I'm sure many will be able to relate to it. Thank you.

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  4. You tell such an interesting story. Times are not always good but Jerry sounds strong are caring : as you say a saint.

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  5. Goodness in people always rises to the top, once it is within them!

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  6. To Tattered &, yes it is kind of interesting in a twisted way. I began to learn more over the many years from Jerry and his cousin when we visited MN. Today as I look at this 93 year old woman, deluding herself with regular church attendance now and appearing to be a harmless little old lady, I just wonder how she can ignore the havoc she wreaked on so many lives... This is also why Jerry has little sympathy for those who don't overcome their hard starts to life, or who wallow in the "poor me" stage, he knows what he endured. I asked him if he had ever driven a car before he had to take over the wheel at 13 outside of Vegas; no but sometimes the old tractor on the farm with his grandfather. He's a survivor, for sure.

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  7. What can I say except "Wow!" ? Do you ever wonder why we get born into the families and situations we do? Obviously, there are issues in every family but Jerry's was more tainted than most.

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  8. Oh yes, I'm sure many will identify with this mother-in-law tale.

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  9. You just have to admire someone who can overcome a background like that! It's sad that he had to but I'm afraid it's becoming more common that children live in dysfunctional families. Good for your husband to set his sights high and succeed!

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  10. That's quite a story. It's wonderful when you see that it's possible to overcome your background. I'm sure it wasn't easy, though. He was lucky to have the influence of Aunt Myrtle and Uncle Joe.

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  11. Wonderful photos but such hard times.

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  12. Amazing Jerry! It's a fascinating, but very tragic story, really. What's most amazing is that a young man like Jerry can emerge from that as a strong, sand, and loving person. It gives me more hope for the world in general.

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  13. Lord! Hard Times indeed.Thank You for The Telling & ,yes, Wonderful Photos X

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