Nancy H. Vest, Writer

Sharing Stories and Wisdom from Generation to Generation

  • Home
  • About Nancy
  • Growing Up Years Journal
  • Blog
  • Subscribe
  • Contact
  • Marking Your Milestones

in Charles Heiser Family

52 Ancestors Week 2 – Boy in a man’s body

Share

My father’s half-brother, Ralph L. Heiser, was born 15 Jun 1923. He and my dad had the same father (Daniel Wilbert Heiser) but different mothers.

52ancestors-2015

Ralph was ten years younger than my dad, and they didn’t know each other well. You see, Ralph was raised by their father and his second wife, but my dad was raised by the first wife’s parents. (That’s a story for another week.)

I don’t think I ever called him Uncle Ralph but simply Ralph. I always knew he wasn’t a regular grown-up but more like a boy in a man’s body. It was much later in my life that I came to understand what made Ralph that way.

On one of our rare visits to Jacobus, Pennsylvania to visit my dad’s father, I noticed there was fair or a picnic or something going on in the field behind the church across the road from my grandfather’s house.

I’m sure I asked my mom about going, but what I remember was my grandfather’s reply, “Ralph can take her. Everyone knows him. She’ll be alright.” Amazingly my mother let me go.

Ralph Heiser, half-brother of Charles Leroy Heiser, ca. 1940's cropped

my uncle, Ralph L. Heiser

Such freedom I felt as I walked across the field with this man-child. I barely remember anything about the event at the church.

 

What I remember is Ralph – his almond eyes and his easy laugh. He wasn’t tall like my father or grandfather, but still I felt safe with him. I stayed right with him, and he stayed right with me. It was like being with a big brother or an older cousin. Warm feelings still come to me when I think of that day.

Ralph died 14 Feb 1968 at age 44. I was eight years old, and I remembered enough about him to be sad about his passing. He’d had a very high fever and went into shock. An autopsy was performed, but the cause of the fever wasn’t identified. The doctor suspected a kidney infection.

My dad said that Ralph had hallucinated when he was sick, that he mistook a hose for a snake. I imagined Ralph in my mind, the man-child that he was, screaming and pointing at a hose thinking it was snake and how frightened he must have been.

Daniel W. and Ralph L. Heiser tombstone cropped

Daniel W and Ralph L Heiser gravestone

Ralph and my grandfather are buried side-by-side in a cemetery in Jacobus. They share a stone, but the death date for Ralph is wrong. It says 1958 instead of 1968. I still don’t understand why people don’t have gravestones corrected when the date is wrong.

 

More details about the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge can be found here.

Copyright © 2015  Nancy H. Vest   All Rights Reserved

Share
Click here to subscribe to my nearly weekly newsletter and receive a free e-book, Write Your First Life Story Today
« 52 Ancestors Week 1 – Clarence and the Outhouse
52 Ancestors Week 3 – Florrie the Late Bloomer »

Comments

  1. Sally says

    April 3, 2016 at 2:32 pm

    This one made my cry, for a good reason. My youngest son has down syndrome. Michael is 7 now.

    Sally C.

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. 52 Ancestors Week 48 – Elmer Heiser: summer complaint | Nancy H Vest, Writer says:
    November 28, 2015 at 5:20 pm

    […] Elmer Eugene HEISER was one of my father’s half-brothers. They shared the same father, Daniel Wilbert HEISER. Elmer’s mother was Daniel’s second wife, Maria C. KERCHNER HESS HEISER. I wrote about my father’s other half-brother, Ralph, earlier this year: Ralph HEISER […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Subscribe to my nearly weekly newsletter via email and receive a free e-book, Write Your First Life Story Today.

Most Used Tags

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Baltimore Carroll County Chesterfield County Christmas Civil War Columbia Cotton mill farmer Farming Fort Jackson Frederick Frederick County Ft. Jackson grandparents Keeping Grandma Alive Keepsakes Kershaw County Lexington County Marlboro County Maryland Monocacy Cemetery Montgomery County North Carolina Pennsylvania Photos Richland County South Carolina Surname: Burroughs Surname: Davis Surname: Futrell Surname: Grant Surname: Griffin Surname: Heiser Surname: Hillard Surname: Jeffords Surname: Lee Surname: Martin Surname: Price Surname: Pyles Surname: Terry Surname: Thomas Virginia World War 1 World War 2

Archives

Categories

GeneaBloggers

Share:

Share

Copyright © 2023 · Market theme by Restored 316

Copyright © 2023 · Created and maintained by Bakerview Consulting