How search led to treasure (8/18/03)

It was pure serendipity. I was searching for a picture of my baby brother, his wife and their son along with a stray cousin. It seems that they had recently entered a contest that involved making a boat out of unconventional materials and then racing it down the creek with the entire family on board.

My mother had told me that my brother and his family were featured on the news. They won a prize for “most unconventional use of materials” or some such category. As we don’t get the Dayton television stations, I missed the broadcast. I thought that maybe the local newspapers in Ohio might have used the event as a feature story.

I never did find anything about my brother’s pirate ship (each entry had to have a theme) but I did find something better. While I was looking for the elusive and ultimately nonexistent picture, I happened across a website for a rodeo business that was owned by friends of our family.

I haven’t seen these folks in decades but the owner’s brother had purchased the farm where I grew up and my uncle had been a frequent visitor to the shop and a close friend of the proprietors. I thought I would check out the website just to see if I recognized any of the people after all these years.

I found out that one of the owners had died last year but her husband was not only still alive, but specialized in selling horse trailers. I printed out all the information, knowing that my mother would be interested.

Then I got to thinking. This is always a dangerous process, at best. Mom’s 75th birthday is coming up on August 31. The Rodeo Shop isn’t that far from where she lives and every time we pass it she wonders if her baby brother’s photograph is still on the wall. She will never let me stop and find out. I guess she doesn’t want to take the chance that it won’t be there anymore.

Her brother had been heavily involved with horse shows and rodeos when he was young. He had been a regular customer of the shop as well as a friend of the owners.

I sent an e-mail to the business and asked them about the picture. I honestly didn’t expect an answer and thought that even if I did get a reply nobody would know what I was talking about.

Imagine my surprise and delight when I received a note from Kathy saying that she had heard many tales about my uncle and that his picture was still on the wall and had been for 44 years since the place opened. I also found out that he had been their first customer. Kathy graciously offered to send me a copy of the photograph for my mother’s birthday.

The woman made my day! My mother will be so pleased to get a copy of that picture. More than that, she will be happy to know that her baby brother still lives in people’s memories. He died over 30 years ago from injuries sustained while bulldogging a steer. It is heartening to find out that we are not the only ones who remember him fondly.

Sometimes memories and photographs are all we have left of those we love and they become more precious as the years go by. It would have been so easy for Kathy to ignore my inquiry but because she took a few minutes out of her busy day to connect her own memories to ours, I know my mother’s birthday will be that much happier this year. And I will finally get to see this picture that I have heard so much about.[[In-content Ad]]