Edward at the local swimming hole

One of Edward's favourite people was his mother's brother his Uncle Elton. Here he is pictured again with his brother Allen and his Uncle Elton. I think that it might be 1947 when Edward was around four years of age and his brother would have been about 13. Elton in this picture would have been 42. Like all the men in Edward's family he was a farmer and lived perhaps 1-2 miles from Princeton right across from Edward's grandfather Link (his mother's father).  Ed, in his early teen years used to bike over to his Grandfather's house in the summer to help out around the farm.

 

He has his big smile in this picture. He loved the time spent with his Uncle and brother. I am noticing that already at this young age Ed was a good size including his feet. He always said he had big feet and when he had to wear support stockings it was a test of strength to get them on his feet. He had wonderful legs and until just the last year of his life he retained those wonderful legs. 

We started writing his story in early summer. We would work on it for a couple of hours at a time. I tried not to show it but I found it heart wrenching. I knew bits and pieces of his life as a child but when he recounted it his life sounded so lonely as a child. I used to space our time between a couple of days of rest as I did find that loneliness in his voice talking about his childhood very sad. 

He was such a good father. He loved both girls dearly and being eight years apart he had plenty of time to spend on each of them in their early years. I remember him lying on the floor pretending to be a dead horse and the girls throwing themselves on him. He loved it.