I've mentioned on the blog before that my Mom's first cousin, Lt. Edward Grover Delong, was killed in World War II and is one of the few hundreds to win both the Silver Star and The Navy Cross. He also has a PT Boat named after him. This is the boat bearing his name:
This is the beginning of life in order of Mom, Dad, and yours truly:
This is why I hate having my picture taken. My Facebook friends have already seen the picker dude picture. The first picture is one of the few that exists of all five of us. One of us was always taking the picture.
In order from left to right, sister, brother, dad, Mom, and Weird Face Dude.
The one that has already been posted on Facebook. From Top to bottom, Mom, Sister, Brother, and Picker Dude:
The Mongrel Sisters practicing before going on stage to perform at a church bazaar. My dad is in the blue dress.
The following three pictures show my life's progression after the accident.
This was about two weeks after the accident. I was given partial credit for saving the life of the young woman in the picture. We were from the same home town, which was eighty miles from the hospital. The woman was in an accident and was undergoing severe depression and not really working hard to get well. Each day she would get worse. Then I arrived on the scene. We had the same doctor. He took her down to my room, she saw how much worse I was than her and how hard I was fighting despite all the odds against me. My doctor said I had the most positive attitude and the worst injuries of any of his patients during his career. The young woman changed her attitude and was out of the hospital in three weeks. While at the hospital she used to sneak down to my room at night and watch TV with me. I would put the sleeping pill under my tongue and then when the nurse left, take it out so I could stay up and watch TV with her. After I got home she was one of the few people that would come get me and take me out for rides etc. Sometimes she would push my wheelchair through stores. Wonder whatever happened to her.
This was about two years later when I was giving my nephew a ride in my wheelchair. The one bad thing about being thin, is I could fly with those ears. A little poundage makes those digits smaller.
This was about two years later after the last picture. It is the backyard of our home in Klamath Falls. I am with my Mom and Sister. I would love to be that thin today even despite my ears!
If any of you would like to share pictures of your lives, email them to me and I would be more than happy to post them on the blog and make it your family history day!
Comments are always appreciated.
Who Am I?
I may have been used as a Who Am I before but if so it has been a while. I was born in 1892 and died in 1926. I was the tenth of thirteen children born to sharecroppers. My father was part Cherokee. I began school at age six and had to walk four miles each day to an all-black, one-room school. Despite sometimes lacking such materials as chalk and pencils I was an excellent student. I loved to read and was an outstanding math student. I completed eight grades at the one-room school. Every year my routine of school, chores, and church was interrupted by the cotton harvest. At age nine my dad left us. He had become fed up with the racial barriers that existed. At the age of twelve I was accepted into the Missionary Baptist Church. When I turned eighteen I took all of my savings and enrolled in the Oklahoma Colored Agricultural and Normal University. I ran out of money after one term and returned home. At the age of twenty-three I moved to Chicagoe and worked at the White Sox Barber Shop as a manicurist. There I heard tales of the world from pilots who were returning home from World War I. I started to fantasize about being a pilot. At the barbershop I met many influential men. Because flight school wouldn't accept women or blacks I went to France to become a pilot. I learned to fly in a Nieuport Type 82 biplane. I became not only the first African-American woman to earn an international aviation license from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, but the first African American woman in the world to earn an aviation pilot's license. I became a media sensation and was a highly popular draw for the next five years at air shows. But the thrill of stunt flying and the admiration of cheering crowds were only part of my ream. I never lost sight of my childhood vow to one day "amount to something." I did not live long enough to fulfill my greatest dream—establishing a school for young, black aviators. At the age of thirty-four my friends tried to talk me out of flying in an air show because they believed the aircraft to be unsafe. About ten minutes into the flight, the plane did not pull out of a planned nosedive; instead it accelerated into a tailspin. I was thrown from the plane at 500 feet and died instantly when I hit the ground. My funeral was attended by 5,000 mourners. A second-floor conference room at the Federal Aviation Administration, Washington, DC, is named after Me. Who Am I?
8 comments:
Neat photos, Bill. What a story about you and the gal in the hospital. I wonder if really know what a blessing and inspiration you've been to so many people, in many ways. As I recall, you were told you'd never walk again, after the accident. Thanks for sharing.
Asking for some positive vibes. We discovered this AM, after one our credit cards was "unapproved" twice over the weekend, that someone hacked into that account, changed the address and phone number and racked up $1600+ in charges, which keyed the company to freeze the card. It's been a day of talking with them, two other agencies, the FTC, every credit card company, the bank, the online MM, getting a fraud alert placed at Equifax, changing user names and passwords, trying to figure out what may be vulnerable to ID theft, if this goes beyond the one card. New cards issues,which means changing numerous accounts that have automatic billing. Then, Himself took me to my changed chiro app't, so we could then go to the bank and file a report with the police. Except, while he was waiting for me, for some reason he walked around his car, checking for any marks or whatever, and discovered the license expired 7/31. But, we have no billing for renewal. This means one more hassle. However, my major concern is the ID theft issue. Please hold good thoughts it goes no further than the one incident with the one card. It's been a less than stellar day, and MA/TJ had a couple setbacks, so we're taking us all out to dinner!
Hi DR
What a freaking nightmare. I think the credit card company should have called you when things appeared out of order. Mine always does. I charged a thousand dollars once for a computer and the card put the charge on hold until they could call me and verify it. It is great that they froze the card but they should have taken the extra step and called you.
I hope it is just the one card and nothing more happens and I also hope they catch the jerks that charge the sixteen hundred bucks.
And you reminded me, I nead new plates!
Good luck on getting the credit card solved.
Bill
I'll echo DR about the photos. You sure went through a lot, and I also wonder about the girl in the hospital. Great photos!
DR, what a story! I wonder how that could have happened. If you find out, do let us know! Lots of good vibes coming for you to straighten it all out easily and never have to go through it again!
One year, I paid my car registration on time, as usual, but they somehow forgot to send me the sticker, and I had forgotten all about it when I was pulled over for expired registration. It was pretty easy to straighten out, as I had the canceled check, but it required trips to the Auto Club for the tag and the Marshal's Office to get rid of the ticket. I hope yours turns out to be as easy.
Hi Pat
I have tried to look for the girl a couple of times. I just don't know if she has been married a couple of times. At the time of the picture and later she was engaged to the son of one of the richest families in the city we lived in but from the rumor mill that marriage never materialized. I may try again.
I'm lucky with auto license here, we have a one stop shopping center, you get your car's smog certificate, license, and stickers all at one time!
Bill
We've had occasions where credit card companies have called us to question a charge and I've always been quite pleased to verify and know they were watching out for us. I admit, I was somewhat surprised they didn't call to verify the purchase of the a/c unit.
They contend they tried to calls us, but the "home" phone was always busy (sorry, guys, we don't get but maybe one or two calls a week on that) and the cell phone gave them a fax beep (I don't think so). The reason they shut down the account was because the perp went online and changed the address and phone number to Houston and they couldn't reach us to verify this was valid.
Like you, I hope it's just the one card, but the only real option was to notify the world, get new cards issues, change passwords and now, of course, get in touch with all the companies with whom we have automatic billing to those card numbers.
Thankfully, we're assured we won't be held responsible for the charges they made, but I really resent the fact that, by the time we get this all resolved, it's going to cost me all as much in lost billable hours and those can't be recovered. Ergo, I'm grumpy and cranky about the whole thing. And we haven't even dealt with the police report yet.
Hi DR
Keep us up to date on credit card gate. I'm elated that you won't be held liable for anything!
Bill
Bill, loved the pictures, thanks for sharing them with us. I think it is very inspiring how you have turned your life into what you have. I don't think you give yourself enough credit. I love the story about the girl. I say if you know her name, try again. You never know she may be wondering about you but may not know your name.
DR, I feel your pain on the credit card theft. It has happened to us twice. The first time being more than 10 years back and was easy enough to resolve and we didn't have to pay any of the charges. This last time was just last year and let me tell you, it was a nightmare. And we did have to end up paying. The Shankster didn't want to but I couldn't deal with it any longer. I just paid it and we have not heard from them since. We had to do all you say on the contacting and changing cards. It took 10 months to get all the charges off the card and I and I alone did it all. We would get phone calls from the security of the CC company and I would have to go into the story each time. FOR 10 MONTHS! I was totally surprised at how much the CC company didn't do after they were the ones who alerted me of the charges. They ended up giving me a new card with a $300 credit when I had a $5000 credit on my previous one I had had for over 10 years and never used but once or twice. It didn't matter how much I argued with them, they all didn't speak much English and most couldn't understand me or I them. I wrote letters which still got me nowhere. Like I said I finally went online and got phone numbers and called all the places they used our card and racked up charges myself to get them taken off. Most were obliging after hearing the circumstance. There was just one place that wouldn't do it. It was really ridiculous. I had another CC with the same company and they cancelled it within 3 months of this happening but said it had nothing to do with it, they said it was due to me not using it after a certain period. Whatever is what I say. I wish we didn't have to deal with CC's at all, but....
So I hope you get yours taken care of quickly and without a hitch. If you have another or any others, my advice to you is check them weekly or daily if you use them often. That is what I have done since and will continue to do. SO GOOD LUCK TO YOU!
Hi Dona
Thank you for the nice comments. I didn't do it alone, doctors, friends, family among the many that helped me along the way. I've already done a brief search and in the process remembered her brother's name so will start with that tomorrow when I get back from Mom's. I would love to know where life took her.
Ouch about credit card theft happening to you twice. I understand why you didn't fight the credit card but you should have let me known I would have duked it out for you, between the Shankster and I they would have regretted not letting you off the hook earlier! Damn I hate it when I get someone I don't understand on the phone. They usually talk to damn fast, I always tell them to slow down. I'm curious about the one place that wouldn't reverse the charges, we should put their name up in headlights.
Bill
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