Jeemanees cousins, you guys are prolific!!
Reporting in (briefly -- more later) from Miss Helen re Silas
Wood and the Tacoma -- when I read the name Silas Wood
to her, she fairly leaped out of the chair, exclaiming, "Oh!
SILAS WOOD!!! I remember him well!!!!", even as she was
jabbing her finger into the air a la CW Stoll. She got so
excited I didn't know what I was going to do with her. Aside
from Grandpa, of course, the two from the Tacoma crew that
she seems to remember the best and most fondly are the
mate, Alex Shaw, a big gruff guy that she just loved, and
Silas Wood. A lot of you are probably familiar with a picture
of the Tacoma crew -- you probably have seen it even if it
hasn't been identified -- it's a picture of the crew in the
Tacoma cabin, at dinner. Grandpa is at the head of the table
(as master of the boat), turned around to face the camera. At
his right is Capt. Gordon C. Greene, who was over visiting
the boat. At the other end of the table is a young Chris. Alex
Shaw, Mom seems to remember, is next to her "Grandaddy
Greene", and on Grandpa's left is Silas Wood. Mom guesses
that he was Chief on the Tacoma but doesn't know for sure.
This picture is on the DQ in the Betty Blake Lounge in a
cabinet full of Greene family pictures and is captioned "Capt.
Greene entertains guests" or some such by someone who
didn't have a clue what the picture was all about. At one
point Mom told someone or other from DQSCo the names of
everyone who was in the picture, but that never surfaced
anywhere. The picture also appears (unidentified) in the
"Mississippi Memories" Cookbook for sale at the DQ gift
shop, and M'Lissa Kesterman (from the Cincinnati Public
Library Inland Rivers collection, for those of you who don't
know her) arranged to have the same picture, blown up to
huge proportions, festooning a 7 ft. or 8 ft. square column of
pictures on display near the Serpentine Wall at Tall Stacks a
number of years ago. Perhaps I can locate it, scan it tonight
when Forrest gets home, and have it available so you can
see exactly what your uncle looked like, Cheryl. I guess I
would have to forward it to an e-mail address -- I don't know
how to post it on here. Some of you may also be familiar with
a picture taken in 1914 of a little 2 year old Miss Helen,
sitting happily in a galvanized tub for her bath, in front of the
porch on the Tacoma where Grandma and Grandpa's
quarters were, and where Grandpa hung a swing for the
family at their leisure. That picture was on display at the gala
90th birthday bash for Mom at S & D last fall coordinated by
Dick and Nancy and Keith and Judy. My mother talks about
her childhood with incredible misty-eyed delight. They were
a remarkably happy and peaceful family and loved being on
the river.
Re the marine hospital in Gallipolis -- Mom says that at one
point around 1915 Grandpa took Grandma ("Miss Telia")
there. Grandma had lost her mother, brother and someone
else (don't recall who just now) all in the space of a few
months and was so upset that she lost a lot of weight.
Grandpa wanted to have her checked by the doctors there.
Don't have particulars right now -- Mom is getting her hair
done right now, so the rest of this will have to wait till I pick
her up.
Can't possibly describe how happy it made my mother to
remember Silas and Alex and those wonderful times on the
Tacoma. What a blessing this site is!!!
Jane, sorry your box runneth over -- it's all those blasted
pictures I sent you ......
More later. Love to all and sundry from Lil and Miss Helen.
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