NAME SAKE ?

Tomorrow, Wednesday, November 4 will be my grandfather’s birthday. He would be 130 years old. George Washington Fravel was one of 11 children, but only 7 of them survived birth. Granddad was the oldest.

When granddad was 17, both of his parents died. Indications are they died from an influenza type illness that was going around in the late 1800s. At just 17, granddad took on the responsibility of caring for his 6 younger brothers and sisters and the farm that was now his…a large farm, (for that time period), that he would later lose in the Great Depression.

Granddad married my grandmother, Dora, at age 20. George and Dora had 4 children, the youngest of which was my mother.

When their youngest son, George ‘Melvin’ Fravel, died at age 21, less than one month after the birth of his own son, George and Dora helped to raise their grandson. From the descriptions I have heard, uncle Melvin likely died from a brain aneurysm. At that time (1933), it was likely not a well documented, nor easily diagnosed, health problem. My uncle likely died at home before they knew he needed, or got, any medical attention.

I believe it is from these two men in my mother’s life, that I got my name, George Daniel Clark. (See prior blog NAME CALLING).

Mom would have been 21 years old when her brother, Melvin, died. Being the baby of the family, my guess is that she was very close to Melvin. His death at such a young age had to leave a lasting mark on her.

My granddad died 3 years before I was born. When searching for names for her youngest baby, my guess is my mother came up with a tribute to two of the men she loved…thus…George Daniel Clark.

As I mentioned in that prior blog, I NEVER asked my mother the question of where my name came from, but I think I can safely say, it would be attributed to the scenario I describe.

In trying to gather a little information about my grandfather, I found some interesting facts. Granddad apparently loved butter when he was very young. So much so, it wasn’t uncommon for him to get a handful, fresh out of the butter churn, and eat it like a scoop of ice cream. After getting deathly ill on one occasion after doing this, he no longer cared for butter!

From lessons learned after suffering through the depression, granddad was frugal with his meals. When the children were home, he saw that they were well fed. But after they had grown and moved from home, he had grandma fix only one item for the meal. If taters sounded good for supper, you fixed lots of taters and that was the meal. If you wanted beans, you fixed beans and that was it. He felt that meat, potatoes and a vegetable for a meal was just wasteful.

I was also told that granddad didn’t see the value of curtains in the home. When grandma would close the curtains, grandpa would pull them back out of the way and say, “why would you cut a hole in the wall…then cover up the hole?”

…and Cindy thinks I’m a little quirky?

Happy Birthday granddad.


Your grandson, Dan