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| William Everett Utterback | 1895-1959 |
I was looking for a picture to post and came across some papers, that I decided to read. A booklet of my grandfather's was in the pile. I have read and looked at these booklets and papers before but noticed something new this time. When my grandfather passed on I was turning 8 years old. He was buried on the day of my birthday. I went with my mother to watch her make all the arrangements for the funeral. For me that was the first time I knew of someone who died and let alone look at all the scary things that you need to do when someone passes on. Of course now, it doesn't bother me, as death is part of this life. Grandpa died in 1959 and that is when Boris Karloff was doing all the scrary movies and grandpa did have his scary eyes, so it was a little spooky for a kid of 8 to go through. If this is the only picture you had to remind your grandfather wouldn't you kinda think he looked like Boris???
Now I have some good pictures of grandpa and my memories of him always holding my hand and going for walks.
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| Grandpa and Uncle Bill. |
Uncle Bill came to visit at least once a year when we lived in Santa Fe Springs, back in the early 50's. He and dad always were laughing and having a good time.
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| Great-Aunt Iza, Glenn and Emma Utterback (my parents), Great-Aunt Iola and Grandpa (William Everett Utterback). |
In the above picture, grandpa had a visit from two of his four sisters.They lived in Spokane. A distant cousin had this picture and was wondering who the younger couple were. This cousin and I met through ancestry.com and started sharing relatives names. He said he had some pictures and I had some, so we emailed each other and this was my treasure. The young couple is my parents at the house where I started my first 8 years, of course my brothers and sister lived there too!
Back to what I noticed in the booklet. You will need to click on the pictures to make them bigger, so that you can read what the page says.
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| On this page it does say he died in Santa Fe Springs, but he fell over of a heart attack in the front of his apartment in Los Angeles. My parents lived in Santa Fe Springs, so maybe the funeral director thought it was that city. |
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| He had lots of flowers. |
From these pages is where I noticed that my great-mother was still alive! The line that says: Mrs. E. L Utterback-mother, wow, so I had to go and look up when she passed on. She was 88 years old and not able to come. She died the next year in June. Don Mitchell (cousin) drove down the two aunts from Spokane. I also noticed the pall-bearers were my mothers', uncles and brother.
This experience has suggested to me to read more thoroughly the information from booklets or papers, so that I can get closer to my ancestors and their lives.
I was looking for a picture to post and came across some papers, that I decided to read. A booklet of my grandfather's was in the pile. I have read and looked at these booklets and papers before but noticed something new this time. When my grandfather passed on I was turning 8 years old. He was buried on the day of my birthday. I went with my mother to watch her make all the arrangements for the funeral. For me that was the first time I knew of someone who died and let alone look at all the scary things that you need to do when someone passes on. Of course now, it doesn't bother me, as death is part of this life. Grandpa died in 1959 and that is when Boris Karloff was doing all the scrary movies and grandpa did have his scary eyes, so it was a little spooky for a kid of 8 to go through. If this is the only picture you had to remind your grandfather wouldn't you kinda think he looked like Boris???
Hi Glenda,
ReplyDeleteJust found your blog. Couple of things that might help. Grandma McKenzie-Maxey always went by Bertie, not Bea. In fact my Aunt Helen had her gravestone etched with the name Bertie, not realizing her full name was Beatrice (my middle name) and they spelled Rae incorrectly as Rea. She is buried in Mt. View cemetary in Oakland, Ca. I may be wrong but I feel sure my mother told me her brother Bill was born in Grangeville, Idaho. Uncle Bill McKenzie's birthdate is March 25th 1905 and he is buried in Memory Gardens in Martinez, Ca. alongside my mother and his wife Helen. Grandpa Maxey went by Will instead of Bill and my mothers brother was named William (Winfield after Winfield Scott Parker) after him as well as our father. In the mission photo, that is not Randy, it is your Uncle Jack's oldest son Chris, and that is his younger son Michael in the blue jeans. I would really really like a copy of Grandpa and Grandma McKenzies wedding photo. I somehow lost mine in moves over the years. My mother had that feather wedding fan for years too, not sure what happened to it. Also, I would like a copy of Grandma McKenzie-Maxey's 16th birthday photo. I have the original but it is in pretty poor shape. Wjere on earth did you get those particular photos?
Aunt Shirley