Anyways I had a weekend trip to look forward to ...take my mind off of conversions and ratio exams for pharmacology. I had planned a trip to my dads childhood home. My dad did not live there his whole childhood but it is the place he calls home. I have not lived in Idaho since seventh grade and yet I always call Idaho home..so... Creede, Colorado is his home.
The reason for going was a family reunion. The Miles/Fairchild reunion....my great grandmother divorced and remarried a Fairchild so like most families nowadays it was a blended family. It is kind of funny because you can tell which side of the family people came from. The Fairchild side had fair features..blue eye's, fair hair... and the Miles side exudes their Native American dark features...dark eye's and dark hair.
This is the first time my dad has been back since his grandmother passed away, which was in the mid 70's. I think it brought back a flood of memories...good memories and memories of those who have since passed on. I personally have not met most of my dads family, I grew up with my dads brothers, and my grandma, a great aunt... that was virtually like a grandma, and some of my dads cousins ....but that was about it. It was finally a chance to connect all the stories I have heard over the years with faces and places.
My dads side of the family that I grew up around was loud, amazing story tellers, they drank a lot, teased ruthlessly, swore profusely, and laughter was never lacking. They were big huggers, amazing cooks, and overall kind people. The Creede family...the family I have never met.. was exactly like the family that I grew up around. It is a blend of families... some look like the Miles side and some look like the Fairchild side..ultimately they are all family and come together as one.
I have stories I could share, and pictures to go along with them, I want to share some because for me this is a journal in a sense and I don't want to forget some of things I heard this weekend....but homework is sitting next to me, calling my name, so stories will wait another day. However, tonight I would like to share one part of my trip and I think the most memorable.
My dads father passed away when my dad was a young teen. Talk about moments in your life that forever change you. He died of a heart attack, so it was sudden. The last time my dad has been in this spot is basically June 21, 1963. My grandpa was buried in Cedaredge, Colorado...not in Creede. His family lived in this town and kind of took over the funeral arrangements and he ended up here, but I think most in the family agree he would have preferred being buried in Creede.
I obviously never met my Grandfather. So here is what I have been told....
...his first name was Butler...but no one called him that ...he went by Bryan..his middle name
He worked in the mines...He is the one in the middle of the picture below.
My dad remembers him working the mines but my dad mostly remembers him being an Asayer in the mines. This is the guy who chemically figures out how much silver, gold, zinc etc was being mined in a particular spot.Below is a picture of the kind of equipment he used.
He helped construct and owned this theater in Creede.
He helped with the plans and construction of the local school. Apparently the mob came to town while building the school trying to convince my grandfather that it needed to be unionized. My grandfather said no, so they sent out a golden gloves boxer from out east to convince him otherwise....it did not go as planned..my grandfather knocked out the boxer in one punch...not so smart to mess with hard rock miners...they were as tough as the granite on the hills.
He loved my grandmother and my grandmother loved him. My grandmother gave me her wedding ring from my grandpa before she passed away..... I wear it on occasion.....
Friends and family said everyone loved him. He was fun and personable and all around a great guy. He is in the hat...second from the left....
He was an undersheriff in Creede ( which is a deputy in Colorado ) also the coroner...It was a small town...everyone had a few jobs in town....One of my dads cousins is an undersheriff in town now. Just carrying on family tradition.
He loved his boys...his boys loved him...
He liked bourbon or whiskey. My dad has his Zippo lighter that he sat and flipped open and closed...sort of a habit of his...the lighter reminds my father of him....
So here is what I know..though I have never met my grandfather...I know he was there when my sister and I were born. He was there for holidays and when family came together to celebrate. He was there when I got married and when my babies were born.
...and.....
...I know he was there....
...when my father and I stood by his grave... and buried an amethyst stone from Creede beside his grave.....
...We brought a little piece of the place he loved back to him....
B. Bryan Beck 1912-1963
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