Memory Jogger
Woke to the sound of a ringing phone. It was not my usual cell phone ring early in the morning, but rather the house phone. To top it off, this was one of those “let’s sleep in” days, and no one has been calling early for the past two weeks. OK, so it was 9 a.m. – that’s sleeping in for me!
“It’s some woman calling about your uncle” was all she said. My mind tried to get a handle on who could be calling at this time of day asking about a man who has been dead for over five years (more like 22 years). (Now my mind is locked in to “am I really THAT old?”) Someone calling about my only real uncle – the World War II flying Ace (almost)? The one who shot down two enemy planes in one day?
Yup! That was who the call was about. An Oklahoma author, doing some research for a children’s book she is writing wanted any information I had about my uncle Dubois Elsberry. I was impressed that she already had the two books I was going to refer her to. Then my mind started to remember some pictures and other memorabilia that happen to exist in my storage shed.
With promises to dig out any details about his life I could remember, Mary Coleman-Woolslayer and I ended the call. Not before we had exchanged email addresses and good wishes.
As different bits of information have been recalled, Mary and I have communicated. Even to the point of discovering that she lived in a neighboring town when I was in school in Oklahoma.
Small worlds just collided. That close, and here some 60 years later we meet.
I am anxiously looking forward to this book about the Stearman Bi-plane and what part my uncle, an Oklahoman, played in it’s history.