The man I grew up loving as my Gran’pop — Roger — was actually Sarah’s second husband. Her first husband — my mother’s father — died two years before I was born. I knew his name: Johnny Bradford; that he was a chemist for the American Tobacco Company in Richmond, Virginia; and that my Gran’mom divorced him in 1945 or so because he was an alcoholic. Until a few days ago, I didn’t know that he had a brother named Keith who lived in Houston.
Keith was a neurosurgeon who set up practice in Houston after serving in the navy during WWII. Early on, Sarah kept in touch with her sister-in-law, Keith’s wife Margaret. As a result, my mom knew that she had three cousins — all daughters — and that Keith and Margaret had also divorced, but little more. Jean fretted a little over the years about not knowing them, but she assumed they all grew up, got married, and took new names, and she wasn’t sure how to find them in the days before internet.
Fifteen years ago, one of the daughters wrote to Sarah, providing married names and then-current addresses. Since Jean and Chuck were already in Texas by then, Sarah mailed the card to Galveston, where it quickly subsided in the clutter.
But then we had a hurricane. And we were forced to go through a lot of soggy old boxes. Around Thanksgiving, Jean found the old note with her cousin’s names. With Google, she was able to find an email address and get in touch.
She learned that Keith and Margaret are now deceased, but two of their daughters — Amy and Meg — still live in Houston with their husbands. They planned to get together in Houston last Saturday, so that these cousins — all in their sixties or early seventies — could meet for the first time. I tagged along to help Sarah participate, too, and things got small world interesting.
- Jean’s cousin Amy lives in our zip code on Bonnie Brae… in the other half of the two-unit townhouse my buddy Adra lived in for most of the last decade.
- Prior to moving into the townhouse, Amy and her husband Dieter lived for 40 years in a house in Houston’s Southgate neighborhood near Rice. When they moved, they sold their house to our former next-door neighbors, Doug and Deanna.
- Dieter is a civil engineer and I was actually introduced to him six months ago by a member of the METRO board. We spent two hours at the Black Lab talking about rail on Richmond, street configurations, and utility locations… without any awareness that we are related.
Jean’s cousin Amy and her charming husband Dieter
At right are Jean’s cousin Meg and her quiet husband “Bunky”
With all these coincidences, it was easy to laugh and have a good time. Our Bradford cousins are smart, articulate, charming people and delightful to pass time with. Afternoon wine and cheese flowed easily into a casual barbecue dinner that pulled in Chris, Shawn and the girls as well as Sharon. We all had a good time and I hope we’ll see them again, soon!