Filling In My Blanks

Uncle Jerry has passed away. The last sibling of my father. The youngest of the four brothers and one sister. Uncle Bob who we called Red, Uncle John who we called Jack, Aunt Margaret, my Dad Charles Edward who was known as Eddie, and Uncle Jerry.  These were the McCunes of Pittsburgh.  No, not the rich McCunes…the ordinary middle class McCunes.

My memories of this side of the family start from my early childhood.  My first memory of Uncle Jerry is at around the age of four or five.  I answered a knock on the front door at our duplex on Broadway in Wellsville.  I saw a kid about my age.  Actually there were two kids, who looked like twins. My cousins Doug and Dave. I don’t remember noticing any adults.

“Mom, somebody is here!”  My parents then explained who it was.  In my memories I can’t separate the visits. The memory of eating a venison dinner which tasted so good; the McCune relatives gathered around an evening dinner table. Another time, those siblings gathered around that same table, drinking beer and smoking cigarettes, laughing at someone’s remark that one of the siblings was no longer a Mickey.

Grandma McCune used to come and stay to watch my brother, sisters and I while mom and dad were away on a trip of some kind. Now SHE was a grandma, no mistake.  Grandma Ruth always looked like a typical grandma.

My immediate family somehow lost touch with the McCune uncles and aunts and cousins.  In hindsight I think it was a parent thing. Somehow I am sure that my dad must have been responsible.

I got married…after I had left home and spent a few years with a fanatical religious cult. I had regained my senses and settled down to start a family.  It was at that time that I looked for Grandma McCune.  I called her at the place she was staying and had a wonderful reunion, introducing myself to her as a full grown adult.  A short while later Grandma moved in with Uncle Jerry and Aunt Bobbi. Me and Dave managed to hook up for some guitar jamming. I brought my wife and toddler son to visit at Uncle Jerry a few times.

The last time I saw Uncle Jerry was when my mother died last year. Jerry and his son Dwight came to the funeral. Uncle Jerry come up to me with a smiling face and a nice conversation. Little did I know he would be passing on in such a short while.

Funny how these life events bring the memory of days gone by.

I am thinking.

Filling in my blanks.