Darn it…I missed out when he was alive! He was born the same year as my grandfather so the possibility exists that I could have known him and not just about him. My great Uncle Jack was quite the person I wanted to know. If he would have lived longer, but he was gone too soon.
The events in his life seem exciting, adventuresome, and risk taking to me. I have researched him and know about him from records and pictures. But…I have never heard him speak to tell his life tales in his own words. I have never met him so as to ascertain his character and demeanor. I have never looked into his eyes so I can study what lies within his spirit.
What I do know is he was a Kansas farm boy who loved horses. He was a real live cowboy in Wyoming. He was the roustabout on an oil field. He was a wagoner in the U.S. Army in World War and stationed in France. He was the manager of a wildlife preserve in Nebraska. He was an arms expert for Remington Arms during World War II, when he died in Colorado. He loved coming back to Kansas and going hunting and fishing with his dad. He died at the age of 46 with cancer. Gone too soon.
He was my grandmother’s big brother, and she adored him. He was a small town acquaintance of my grandfather. As a child and teenager, my mother saw her uncle only a few times. She could tell me little about him. Gone too soon.
My great uncle Jack was born Edward Ralph Boultinghouse in June, 1896, in Osborne County, Kansas, and passed on in May, 1943. Uncle Jack, I have a lot of questions for you. Gone too soon.
Once Upon A Lifetime: Tales And Vignettes Of My Ancestors 