By George

In the middle of our whirlwind weekend tour of Lansing (actually of Rudgate Hills in East Lansing) time was spent looking at photos of my parent's children. Meaning me.
Y'see back when Dad took countless photographs of his new family, I dont' know when the volume decreased but there are trays of slides sitting with pictures of me as a little kid, Josh, Min, Mom as a 22 year old newlywed, Chicago in 1974 and so on. A treasure trove in my opinion, one that is never fully accounted for nor in any real order. Which is fun in a way as the process of discovery remains for those oodles of slides. There are even rolls of 8mm movies of myself as a boy Jack's size (we had a Dr. appointment Monday: 16lbs, 26in. long, 42.8cm head circumference; all 97th percentile) that are in a closet in flowery yellow boxes.
Well I took some of those photos while at home with the express purpose of posting them on this here blog. These are a few of the first I scanned in.
Who is this? My Dad's Dad, George S Vincent.
George was a Doctor of Mechanics, Dad has his diploma in his office, tucked behind some Inuit art next to his desk. He was also a World War 2 veteran tho I am never quite sure of where in Europe he served nor anything else. Dad does have a photo taken by Grandpa either in England or Brussels, riding on a tank. He also has a pamphlet instructing a solider how to talk to a German.
George passed away in 1989, we buried him in October at the Mt.Cavalry Cemtery in Grand Rapids. To me this cemetery is notable for the fact that it is the final resting place for a number of my Grandmother Alice's brothers, most lost to WW2. I think that subliminally this is how my Dad and eventually myself ended up with the name Frederick, as there is a side street close to the cemetery named Frederick.
I'm sure you can see the Borkowski vault on Google Earth.
I wish that I knew George better. Just to get to know him would be interesting and I would love to have seen him interact with my Dad, see how Dad acted around George.
Deferential? Reverential? Dismissive? We ate lunch with him at a Mr.Fables in maybe 1987/1988 but I wasn't really looking to see that relationship then. Now I think that I would understand it and value it more.
Especially since I have George's tilt.


Dig the hair and the coat! Swarthy Czech style!