Nickname: Innkeeper

A recent prompt for 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks was Nickname. Here’s my story for this prompt.

When my dad (Charles Leroy HEISER 1913-2001) and mom (Gladys MARTIN HEISER 1921-1999) met, it was pretty much love at first sight. They were engaged about six months later and married a few months after that. When they got engaged, Mom took Dad to meet her family, especially her father and mother, J. Daniel MARTIN (1886-1955) and Florrie THOMAS MARTIN (1894-1979).

Most of Mom’s seven siblings and their families were there. They were a fun, rowdy bunch, and Dad was a little overwhelmed, according to my mom, but he didn’t let it show. I’m sure he was wondering what he was getting into with this bunch of noisy cut-ups.

The in-laws move in

Mom and Dad married in June of 1947. Soon after, they bought a house in Washington, D.C. Mom’s parents moved in with my mom and dad because my grandfather had health problems and the neighborhood they were in had become unsafe.

It was only supposed to be temporary.  Two of my mom’s brothers were supposed to move to a place big enough to have my grandparents there. But that never happened.

Dad didn’t mind having Mom’s parents there. He had taken care of his grandparents in their later years, and he would honor Mom’s parents in the same way.

My parents’ house quickly became the gathering place for my mom’s family, though. Several of Mom’s siblings were local, but none had more than a small apartment, so they went to my parents’ house to congregate on weekends. In their eyes, they were going to their parents’ house since their parents lived there.

Having been raised as an only child by his grandparents, Dad was not used to so much commotion. But once boundaries were set, the friction eased. Before long, my parents hosted Mom’s out of town siblings, too, when they visited, like Uncle Jerry and his family from Mississippi and Uncle Chet and his family from New Jersey.

A new house but some things don’t change

My parents moved to a larger house in Northern Virginia in the mid-1950s. My grandfather had passed away before that, and my older sister had been born. My uncles had purchased homes, too, and sometimes gatherings were at their houses, but my grandmother continued to live with my parents. I was born a few years later.

Many, many visitors

With my grandmother living in our house, my sister and I knew all of our aunts and uncles and first cousins because everyone came to see Grandma (aka Florrie, Mother, Granny, Grandma Martin, Aunt Florrie, and Cousin Florrie). We often hosted Thanksgiving and Easter meals and often had company on Sunday afternoons.

Sometimes extended family (like my great aunts and uncles and their families and other various cousins) would call from the convenience store about a mile away and say they were in town. My mom said come on, and my dad would soon head out the door to go to KFC.

My sister and I met family from South Carolina and several other states, some of whom we only saw once or for a short time. One time a cousin from Texas, M., came and stayed every weekend for three weeks in a row. He was in the area, training for work. On the weekends he stayed with us. He slept on the red brocade, fold-out couch in the basement. M. made the best fried bananas.

My dad’s cousin, Myrtle HILLARD BURROUGHS (1903-1977), was like a sister to my dad. She was with us for all holidays and other times, too. My dad would go get her in Maryland because she didn’t drive and bring her to our house for a few days. His sister, Dorothy HEISER BROWN (1915-1998) would come and stay sometimes, too.

Dad, the part-time tour guide

Many of the out-of-town family members wanted to sightsee in D.C., including my cousin, Andrea MARTIN WILSON (1947-2023), who asked to visit D.C. as her high school graduation gift from her parents. My dad was the tour guide for all our sightseeing guests. He and Mom had lived in D.C. for several years and knew where everything was and how to get around.

Dad and his passengers would be gone all afternoon, or maybe even all day, and come home to a ready dinner prepared by mom with help from my sister and/or me, or by the busy hands at the KFC. That fold-out couch in the basement slept many of my family members over the years. Even after my grandma passed in 1979, the family visits didn’t end. My parents hosted guests until just a few years before Mom passed in 1999.

Nickname: Innkeeper

One of my cousins, C., nicknamed my dad in his family tree as ‘Innkeeper’. I like that, and it fits. Mom and Dad were happy to have family around and to have people stay, and they never turned anyone away. No one went hungry, and everyone had a place to sleep. There was always laughter, stories, tall tales, jokes, Uno games, delicious food, and much love at my parents’ house.

Another of my cousins, Patricia Lynn MARTIN HATCHER (1952-2023) said it was the end of an era when their house was sold after my mom passed and my dad went to live at an assisted-living facility. She was right. I wrote about it here.

Who has nicknames in your family?

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