Chapter 143B
4/24/2007
Ch 143B Walking Over Dead Bodies (added notes) The Butler Did It!
photo 1942: Virgil-My Grandparents Living Room : L to R : Hired man Arnold Timmerman, Grandma Wilna Olmsted, G.G.Pa Philo Olmsted, Aunt Carol Olmsted, GPa Hayden Olmsted.
I spent a lot of time at my Grandparent's (Sears Design) home pictured above now lived in by brother Bill, as it was just walking distance down the road. This picture was taken in 1942 just three years before I was born. Picture reflects perhaps a break to relax and read the newspaper somewhat, maybe after morning chores- Gpa and hired man still have boots on. Gpa with the farmers redneck tan. GGpa in wicker chair with pipe-I don't remember him as I was 2 when he died. I remember the wickers for sure. GMa in between cooking meals, in rocker where she'd read me stories like the Little Red Hen. Carol probably a Junior at Cortland State Teachers College.
New brass reading lamps as electricity hooked up for 4 years. Solid cherry wood door casing to the piano room. Old 1936 Big Black Dial Zenith Radio in the background that Bill has restored the internals to working condition on. I am sure Grandma listened to the news (no TV) of General Doolittle's attempted bombing raid on Tokyo in that spring of 1942, wondering if her brother in custody on the ground would survive. She was probably also concerned a few years later, that her son might have to take part in the further fire bombing of Japan that would eventually kill 100,000 Jap civilians. Dad was discharged about one month before the first firebombing of Kobe and his Eighth Air Force group was in fact transferred from the European theater to the Pacific to take part in the destruction of Tokyo and Yokohama with conventional bombs.
Black metal tiger statue is about 13 inches long weighing about 3 pounds. The tiger was at Dad's until the auction when I salvaged it and have it now, though I'll have to get it back to it's rightful place. Can't find any markings or history on it other than the Made in Japan marking. It is a handsome and a well made piece but probably an inexpensive common hollow stamping tourist piece not a cast bronze unique sculpture. Maybe valued at couple hundred not thousands of dollars.
I'd recalled reading Bud's letters at Grandma's house but I recently got newspaper clippings from Aunt Carol-including stories from the 1924 Des Moines Register , IA , the Japan Times, and the 1934 Japan Advertiser, Tokyo. I did find "Uncle Bud's" (Leigh Butler's) high school graduation listed as 1910 on-line from the Rolfe Public School in Pocahontas County, Iowa. The Iowa paper was proud of their native son who was also a wrestler and football star in high school, and still had a robust athletic figure in Japan with a black belt in Judo. They said, "He had earned his spurs."
I'd met the other brother, "Uncle Guy" , a Rolfe grad of 1909 when I rode to Iowa with Grandparents in their new green and white stick shift V-8 '56 Chevy Bel Aire. Guy also went thru NWU, dentist in Siam (Thailand), State Senator, Bank President, big game hunter in Africa, etc. Have his 1918 Silver Hampshire Cup when he apparently played for the Royal Bangkok Sports Club beating England & Denmark 2 Tries to 1 Try in England.
Other sources and methods can't be revealed without compromising the integrity of the investigation and data collection. One source that was beneficial was the Brown University archives. Note to Aunt Carol: good idea; these documents were only recently (2005) made publicly available by descendants of the photographer who happened to be traveling to Japan at the time of the quake.
I'm sitting here with an 65 year old photo with the unknown to me hired man's name written in. He lived in a tiny crossroads town, a nobody from nowhere and after 10 seconds at the computer keyboard I find the guy's (Arnold Timmerman) life's story written 10 years ago in an on-line Nevada newspaper. As I go back to Chapter 45 I realize Aunt Carol had also given me this name of the guy helping cut ice with Grandpa on the pond behind our house (in the same boots).