Wednesday, April 13, 2011

eulogy for my dad

Henry was born in his grandmothers house on monument street in east Baltimore in 1919. He was very young when his family moved to their first and only house in Rosedale which at the time was mostly farmland. 

henry's parents, henry senior and bessie had four children and henry was  the oldest. his younger brother louis was born with cerebral palsy. the family never institutionalized him which was common in that time. louis had some  schooling and he learned a trade - chair caning. henry took his  brother to pick up jobs and return the completed work for years. 

In louis' later years henry and  his late beloved sister ruth continued to care for him. henry is survived by his youngest sister  Carolyn who  lives in Florida with her daughter.

Henry attended a small six room school and then moved to the brand new Kenwood high school which is now golden ring middle school.  He graduated in 1936. As this was the time of the great depression, jobs were scarce. Henry said he was lucky to find work as a laborer on construction for 25 cents an hour. he moved on to be a carpenter's apprentice. 

Henry enlisted to serve in ww two in 1941 and attended anti aircraft training. His unit was sent to seattle to protect the Boeing plant from possible japanese bombing.  Breaking Japanese code, the US found out the japanese were planning to bomb and then settle the aleutian islands in Alaska so his unit was sent there. The japanese settled on another island so he was not in direct fire but his unit stayed and helped rout the Japanese and then became the army of occupation until 1944.

In 1945 he was discharged as a sargeant. Henry returned to Baltimore and resumed his work in construction. He took some classes at the Maryland Institute of Art but he did not  have the resources to further his education. In the sixties he became a building inspector for baltimore and then for the Baltimore city schools. He retired early in 1981. 

Henry met his wife Marge of 62 years at a dance hall. They were married here in 1947 on her birthday. That day was April 12. Today. 

They bought their house on Lavender avenue and lived there for 49 years. They moved to Ridge Gardens apartments so they could spend their time taking day trips instead of doing yard work.

marge developed vascular dementia during their time at ridge gardens and while they very much enjoyed living there, they moved to glen meadows retirement community in 2007 after Marge had serious falls and could not navigate stairs. 

henry took on the role of caregiver for Marge until her death from pneumonia in 2009.

Marge and Henry loved boating. They had pride that they had explored every river and creek on both sides of the Chesapeake Bay from Tangier Island to Havre de Grace.

In the late 60's Marge and Henry gave up boating. Henry got involved in local veterans groups. He was a life member of Parkville American Legion and Parkville VFW. He was an active member of the Legion's singing group The Balladeers for 30 years. 

Never one to pass up a request for volunteers he helped out here at st. Johns frequently and also worked with the disabled american veterans.

Henry believed in being active. He took up tennis after he retired and then he took up golf.  In the last two years he played bocce ball and was on the Wii bowling league at Glen Meadows.

before having a child of their own, marge and henry spent much time with their nieces and nephews often having what is now called ... sleepovers. 

Marge and Henry adopted their cherished daughter Susan in 1961. Becoming parents later in life, they had more energy and enthusiasm than those much younger than them. Susan shared their love of the water and the family spent much time boating and taking yearly trips to Ocean City and two trips to Florida. 

henry shared his sense of adventure with Susan including taking her out really far in the ocean to ride waves much to Marge's chagrin and he  also was known to tie a rope to an airtube and drag Susan around middle river. This was all before her age was even in the double digits.

they also spent much time ice skating on frozen water. Susan tells of the time her father took her and a friend ice skating on Lake Roland. He told the girls to not skate in an area that looked iffy. then he went to check it out himself and fell in. Susan was not happy that they had to leave but her dripping wet and cold father insisted.

Anything that needed to be fixed or created, Henry was there. Susan wonders if the sign he made for Her high school newspaper office is still there. The paper was named the pioneer and he did an elaborate cutout of a horse Drawn carriage.

Susan was editor of the newspaper in her senior year and she thinks her journalism career was surely influenced for her father's penchant for writing letters to the editor of the Baltimore Sun. many times they would get phone calls from people of a different mind on issues. His interest in public affairs and writing letters to the editor continued until just recently.

Tho henry did not have the resources for college, he made sure Susan was able to go to the college she wanted ...  New York University. while he didnt like New York City and having Susan so far way, he was a good sport when he and marge visited including going to an authentic Chinese  restaurant and attending some very offbeat performance art her friends were in.

Henry also greatly enjoyed spending time with his grandson's eli and henry. susan jokes that once they were born, it was all about them. it was never ... We want to see you. it was ... We want to see the kids. 

Eli and henry are very different and he had unique relationships with each of them. Pop pop enjoyed Henry's mischievous nature and sense of humor. Instead of being insulted, he  thought it was funny that henry started calling him Fred because pop pop and him had the same name. Both Henry's shared an artistic talent and a wry sense of humor.

eli and pop pop shared a talent for fixing things, making things and putting things together. Eli will take over as the fixer in chief thanks to all pop pop taught him. Pop pop was  very proud that eli will be attending his college of choice, UMBC, in the fall and not surprisingly partially funded by the college fund pop pop set up. 

Henry would have turned 92 in June. While the last few years were ones of sadness and decline, he did have a life well lived. He had friends and family that loved him and did whatever he could to help others. He will be missed.