My Uncle Lester, my last living uncle, is 90 and took care of my Aunt Zola, who died recently at 97. He is in the process of administering her estate. They live in Stockton California. He had her remains cremated and decided to take them back to Kansas to be buried in the family cemetery in Dennis, Kansas, a hard 3 days journey. Each day's drive is about 650 miles. Uncle Lester invited my dad (88) to go along, but he had to stay home with my mom who has the Shingles.
He stopped on the way at my folks in St, George Utah, but only one night. On the last day, near Salina, Kansas he had what he determined to be a mini-stroke. A slight numbness on the left side of his body. Anyway he arrived in Kansas, got Aunt Zola buried, and visited his sister, my Aunt Betty, for about 4 days. He happened to mention the numbness, which threw the family into a panic, including my dad. He would not see a doctor and insisted that he was going to drive back to CA the next day. I volunteered to fly out and meet him in Wichita, but it was too late in the day and he declined the offer anyway.
He did agree to call when he got to Denver or if he encountered any problems on the way. At 5:50 PM he called and was staying at a Motel 6. I asked if he would like to have dinner with us. He said he would, but didn't want to drive anymore so we drove to meet him and had a nice dinner and visit at the Denny's next door. He said the numbness persisted, but he seems to have complete control I watched him for the signs they tell you to look for and I saw none. He said the brain would soon rewire itself and he'd be fine.
He looked fine and I reported it to my dad. He was very relieved. The next day he was up at 4:30, had breakfast and made it into St. George around 6 PM.
He drove on to Stockton the next day. Had to get back to something or other. All this at 90? Those Carson Boys are tough.
In the picture, Uncle Lester is third from the left on the top row. This is all 6 of the Carson boys in their WWII uniforms. Uncle Lester and Leslie were twins. They had white hair from their teens on. Leonard is in the middle bottom row. I'll name them all, top row left to right, then bottom row: Lawrence, Lloyd, Lester, Leslie, Leonard, and Leo. Leo and Lloyd were killed in a car accident less that 3 months after they got home from the war when a drunk hit them head on. Leo was to be married in a month.
Thought you would enjoy this story about six of the Greatest Generation.
7 comments:
Hi Dad,
I love these photos! I recognized Grandpa immediately. How did the fifth son get the Leonard name? I think Leo looks a bit like Jared.
I love hearing these stories. Thanks for putting them on.
Heather
It has always been a mystery why Pop, the fifth son was named after his father. To this day I do not know. Maybe I'll ask Pop. Doubt if he knows, though.
Leo does look like Jared. Leo's face is a bit more oval shaped, but they do look alike.
Lawrence and Lloyd (Snick) were the oldest and the wildest. One day Snick was driving the old Model T and Lawrence was teasing Snick on how bad a driver he was. Snick asked Lawrence if he would like to "take the wheel". Lawrence said, "Yes". All the while Snick was secretly unscrewing the nut that held the steering wheel in place. So when Lawrence said yes, Snick pulled the wheel off the column and handed it to Lawrence. The car careened off the road and luckily just ran into the ditch. No one was hurt. Lawrence did stop teasing Snick about his driving, though.
The photographs of the 6 Carson boys capture the quintessential greatest generation! Reading about Lester's trip back to Kansas I was dreading a sad ending. So glad everything turned out alright. Incredible!! Also loved the second story in your comments. Ben should make a documentary- sounds like they were/are lively characters.
wow.
love the post dad. makes me very proud. i'm choked up a bit. (talk amongst yourselves....)
Very cool. I can't believe that all six boys were in the military. What a great family heritage. Also, I think that Grandpa looks a lot like Q.
Very cool post. Yeah I do look a bit like Leo, and Q definitely looks like Grandpa C. I love that Uncle Lester just shrugged off a possible heart attack.
Love it, never new that much about them I ashamed to say.
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