Flashback Friday # 170

The Death of Uncle Brad

Hello. It's nice that you could stop by again. Pull up a chair & stay awhile (it's really uncomfortable reading your computer while you're standing).

As you can tell by the title of the post, this isn't a normal, lighthearted post. Uncle Brad was the first Uncle or Aunt that I lost. He was the husband of Mom's closest sister, Liza. Since they lived in Massilion, we didn't get to see them all that often. I think the only time I ever got to see Uncle Brad was at family reunions. He was a mailman, so on the Saturdays that Aunt Liza would drive down to Aunt Pam's house, he would have to stay home and work. I only remember being at his house once.

Not only was he a mailman, he was also an avid lover of the theater. The was a local playhouse that he spent a lot of time at, not only patronizing, but helping behind the scenes. He could be found there at least 2-3 times a week.

One evening, as he and Aunt Liza were driving home, a car barrelled out of a drive in movie parking lot. The driver paid no heed to oncoming traffic, and struck Uncle Brad's vehicle. Uncle Brad was pronounced dead at the scene, along with the driver of the other car. Aunt Liza was rushed to the hospital with a mangled leg and many other less serious injuries.

After sever hours of surgery, the doctors were able to put Aunt Liza's leg back to gether. A large hunk of her calf was missing, but she regained full use of her leg again, although it pained her frequently. The coroners report stated that the other driver was drunk at over twice the limit. He had no family, and no insurance, so there was no recourse.

Mom was quite upset when she heard the news. She drove up to Massilion that night (a two & half hour drive). She called into her work & took several days off to be with Aunt Liza and help make funeral arrangements.

After Aunt Liza came home from the hospital and was getting around better, she decided to clean out some of Uncle Brad's things. I got several US Mail coats (I was told that I had to take the emblems off)and the gloves Uncle Brad wore on his route. I had the coats for years.

One thing Aunt Liza found while going through his this was really sad. She found letters from one of the actress at the playhouse. She and Uncle Brad had a relationship going for several years. Aunt Liza said that she hadn't a clue that there was something going on behind her back. This could explain why he was at the theater so often.