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~ Kathy M.

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Sepia Saturday #121: Hobart Hedrick



This week's Sepia Saturday theme is flight.  I remembered this picture of my Great-Uncle Hobart with his boys, Lyle and Dan standing by an airplane.  Dan was born in 1925, and Lyle in 1926, so I'm figuring that this photo was taken around 1939 or so, if they are 14 and 13.  This plane was Hobart's, and he helped to get the Shelton, Washington airport set up.

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

To make things a bit easier, Hobart was my Grandma T.'s half brother; Lyle is the one who compiled and transcribed "The War Letters" and Danny was killed on a Navy ship during WWII.  Hobart married Flora Fletcher Hedrick and divorced her when Danny and Lyle were quite young.  Later on, Hobart married Velma and had two more children, Judy and Bud.

My Mom, Jody, wrote down her memories about these guys, and I will re-type the part about Hobart, and then give you some other links to posts that I have made about this side of my family. 

 Hobart Hedrick

"Hobart was born to Clara Ward Hedrick and Benjamin Eugene Hedrick in 1900.  They lived on Bear Creek Road, just west of Curtain, Oregon.  Clara Ward lived in that area before they were married.  Ben Hedrick was born on the Hedrick ranch on Hardscrabble Road, off Highway 38 just west of Drain. 

When Hobart was about a year old, his mother died of diphtheria. She had gone to help her sister-in-law, Jessie Hedrick Delauney, Ben's sister, who also lived on Bear Creek Road.  Jessie's youngest son, Homer, was sick with diphtheria.  Clara caught the disease, and both she and baby Homer died. 

This left Ben with the baby.  Jessie took baby Hobart to live with her family, with the understanding that Ben would take him back when he could care for him.  Ben had an Alice In Wonderland book that he had kept from his own childhood, and wrote in the back of the book that Hobart went away on April 22 at 9:10 o'clock in the evening. 

The story goes that Clara's mother came over to the house, saying, "I have come for the baby."  When Ben told her that he had given the baby to Jessie, she flew into a rage and destroyed the contents of the house, including breaking all of the dishes. 

Later on, Ben married Talitha Letsom.  They had three children, John in 1909, Florence in 1911 and Homer in 1913 (?).  My mother is Florence.  She shared that after her parents were married, Ben wanted to bring Hobart to live with them, and Hobart was not a bit happy about it.  He wanted to stay living with the Delauneys.  He said, "Of course I was spoiled; the Delauneys spoiled me." 

Mom (Florence) says that she can remember Hobart "making little messes around the ranch to irritate Grandpa (Ben) and that Granny (Litha) would be following him around cleaning them up to keep Grandpa from finding out." 

When Hobart was a teenager, he left for good.  The problem was probably that he and Grandpa were just too much alike.  Hobart got on just fine with Granny, but then, most people did. 

Hobart was an adventurer.  There are pictures of him topping tall trees.  He was one of the first people to fly airplanes.  Notice in the pictures that he was the one with the camera bag across his shoulder. 

I don't know what happened between him and Flora.  It was during the Great Depression, and times were hard.  His family thought that he had deserted her and the boys, and they did not like it at all.  They all liked Flora, and of course, they loved Dan and Lyle.  One story goes that Hobart had a car and asked Grandpa to sell it for him, which he did.  Later, Hobart asked Grandpa for the money, and Grandpa said, "I gave it to Flora." 

Hobart's ashes are buried with his mother in Comstock Cemetery in Anlauf just north of Drain, Oregon."


So, there you are, my friends.  If you enjoyed this story, please visit my Sepia Saturday friends by "CLICKING HERE" to find other neat photos and stories.  To read more about my family and other stories featuring old photos, memories and more, please look for this picture of me and my dad on the left-hand sidebar and read whatever else catches your fancy.  Thanks so much for visiting!

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews



At Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy, if you miss a day, you miss a lot!  All material on this post is copyrighted and not for use without my permission ...Please click here to go to my home page and see what is happening in Mayberry today.  Protected by Copyscape Duplicate Content Check

17 comments:

North County Film Club said...

Hi Kathy,
Thank you for introducing us to Hobart. Such an interesting story. He probably walked right away from his family off to seek the next big adventure.
So sad about Dan. It's really upsetting to look at that picture of such a cute young boy, only to know that he died so young.
Nancy

Bob Scotney said...

A very interesting story from your family archives. The war took away too many young men like Dan.
Great photo to start off with.

Little Nell said...

I wonder if the boys got to fly in that plane or were they posing because it belonged to a friend? Interesting stories about the family, and I'm beginning to make connections now from your other posts.

Alan Burnett said...

One of the great delights of Sepia Saturday is to move from a theme to a particular image to a story. Your post illustrates this perfectly.

Kat Mortensen said...

Really enjoyed reading this story of your great-uncle, Kathy. He sounds like he had a fairly exciting life - the camera and his love of planes would suggest so. Too bad that conflict with fathers can often force a young man to leave. On the other hand, I suppose he wouldn't have realized some of his dreams.

Postcardy said...

It must have been relatively common for both children and adults to die from diseases back then. It happened in my mother's family during the flu epidemic of 1918.

21 Wits said...

I always enjoy your stories, but even more special (like the last photo) are your photos! They tell so much of story all on their own as well....and my heart just feels happy with the ending photo, as you so often do! Thanks!

Christine H. said...

I am amazed at how many Sepia Saturday participants have family photos with old airplanes. And along with your great photo comes and even greater story. I'm so glad to get to know Hobart.

Coloring Outside the Lines said...

Enjoyed reading about your family Kathy- very interesting.

Wendy said...

This is truly a story of the times they lived in.
(By the way, I'm STILL laughing over your comment on my post - so true! so true!)

Unknown said...

That was quite an interest post Kathy. I did not have any family photos around planes as I don't I ever saw one until I was way up in my 50's. We used to travel a lot but only by car. My husband rode a plane once and that was the last and only time. I love to fly and still do. This theme was a good one and I am enjoying all the posts.
QMM

Sheila @ A Postcard a Day said...

I enjoyed that so much I almost felt part of the family. The diphtheria deaths make you realise how far medical science has progressed and how recently.

Unknown said...

A very thorough interesting tribute to Hobart. We do tend to forget about how much more medically dangerous infections and the like were and how fortunate we are with vaccines, etc.

Lavender and Vanilla Friends of the Gardens said...

Hobart the adventurer, the black sheep in the family, many family have one and they are the ones that make the family history interesting! Hobart certainly did.

Bruno Laliberté said...

Great storytelling, even if some of it is sad. All part of life, isn't it!?!...
:)~
HUGZ

Tattered and Lost said...

I don't think I've ever heard of a better name for a road than Hardscrabble!

Teresa Wilson Rogers said...

There are so many old pictures of people posing in front of old planes and we never know the stories behind them. Now we know the story of Hobart and Dan.

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