The Reclusive Life of Uncle George

The sun porch was on the south side of the house on the second story and was entered through the bedroom that uncle George used. Uncle Carl did use the clothes closet adjacent to uncle George’s room — there was no closet attached directly to the sun porch. The sunroom had a lot of windows and was consequently very light and airy — it was unheated so it must have been a cold place to sleep in the winter time. Uncle George’s room was on the other hand invariably a rather dark place. Most of the time he would have the window shade mostly drawn down (for the single window in the room).

The checker games I played with uncle George I most of the time lost. When I won perhaps it was by design on the part of my uncle, I really do not know. As I grew older it was less likely that I would spend these times with uncle George and I think they ceased altogether after we moved to the farm. Also I don’t know if any of my brothers (or cousins) ever visited and played checkers with him in a similar fashion.

One time, perhaps through my mother or my grandmother and after I had more or less stopped visiting with him, he had remarked rather plaintively that I wasn’t coming to see him anymore. With the callousness of youth the remark did not move me to see him much again. I surmise that the level of stimulation I had received from playing checkers with him had palled.

I doubt if he read much if at all and the only human contact he had was with the few regular occupants of the house; he was starved for things to do and for more personal contacts. I think when one of his minister brothers would visit the house they would spend some time with him. Generally uncle Carl would shun contact with him and treated him rather cavalierly, according to my sister Vivian. At this point of my life, I feel a sadness for him — a stunted life brought on and emphasized by the religious milieu of that household.

When I was first aware of my uncle George he did such chores around the house as mowing the lawn, perhaps working in the vegetable garden though I don’t specifically recall this. Early on there used to be a few chickens kept in the barn at the back of the property but this later on discontinued. Uncle George said that the chickens were not producing much in the way of eggs and I guess uncle Carl disposed of them. Eventually he wasn’t able to continue the chores and I recall on one occasion mowing the lawn. Maybe this was at uncle Carl’s instigation or by my mother’s or grandmother’s request; I don’t recall.

He died rather suddenly — no specific illness, I think he just gave up living. I seem to have been on the scene when he died. It was during the day, a weekday, during the summer, and uncle Carl was in town thought it was the time of the year when he normally would have been doing farm work. Uncle Carl had walked to the post office to get the mail and when members of the family observed that uncle George had died, my aunt Laurine was greatly agitated and wanted me to immediately find uncle Carl and let him know what had happened. Apart from the rather unlikely possibility that I could located him readily, or would miss him on the alternative paths to and from the post office, I recall thinking that he would surely come back soon anyway. This indeed proved to be the case before I set out to find him. I wonder now if uncle Carl’s not working was the result of the feeling that uncle George was indeed dying.

Aside from my checker-game visits with uncle George my only contact with him would be to observe him when he came down from his room to the kitchen (as when we were having Sunday dinner at my grandmother’s). I cannot recall him ever joining at the table with the rest of the family, and I’m not sure he would join at other meals with uncle Carl, grandmother and aunt Esther and other regular occupants of the house but perhaps he did.

When he did come down to the kitchen, his fare seemed to be some black coffe and a piece of bread or a rusk. I suspect his diet was sadly inadequate; I wonder if maybe he had an ulcer. With this kind of diet he was very thin, almost to the point of emaciation. Though of average height I doubt if he could have weighed much more than 100 pounds or so. Like the rest of him his face was thin and deeply lined. I’m not sure but oftentimes he would not have shaved that day. His hair was not gray and in this respect he did not have the typical Peterson tendency for early gray, even white hair. Always shy and retiring, he never left the limits of house and yard to my recollection. He does appear in a few photographs of family gatherings — a somewhat saturnine visage amongst many of more animated appearance.

As I have mentioned previously when my uncle Milton or uncle Lawrence would visit they would spend some time with uncle George, sort of a person-to-person visit with him. I seem to have heard it mentioned that they did. Uncle Serenus and family seldom if ever visited Gowrie, at least after the time of our move to the farm so I don’t know if they ever visited with uncle George in a similar manner. What did they talk about? Religious matters? Discussion of whatever afflicted uncle George to make him lead the kind of life he lived? Uncle George never attended any church services. Did the pastor of the Gowrie church visit him, perhaps to administer communion? There was never any mention of such visits to my recollection.