Bert was the oldest male cousin who was closest to me in age, and during a few summers my twin sister Peg and I would spend a week with the Geneses. One of Bert's great virtues, which I came to appreciate more and more later in life, was that unlike a lot of male older cousins in this world, he was always kind, helpful and generous -- and never bullying -- even if he found your presence occasionally annoying or ridiculous. One year, sometime in the 1940s when Bert was about 11, our two families drove down our two cars to Mexico and back, and Bert sometimes had the thankless task of supervising Peg and me in a hot humid hotel room while our parents went to bullfights and nightclubs. I was about 5 years younger, so either too young, or not good enough, to join Bert and his buddies in the sports they played, but I learned a lot watching and listening to them, especially to their early-50s R and B records. Like all farm kids Bert had tons of chores. And also like many a farm kid, he was sly and mischievous, too, so I also learned how to smoke roll-your-own cornsilk cigarets and to light illegal firecrackers, one of which blew half of a finger off one of Bert's pal's hand. I planted, weeded and picked various crops with Bert on the Goens farm, where he had a huge plot from which he could earn his own spending money. I'll never forget his cucumber plot. We'd take the harvest to the Decatur produce buyers. Bert could operate all sorts of farm equipment, plus he could dominate a bunch of hogs that never failed to terrify me. I got to ride his big horse bareback, watch Uncle Howard do some barbering and butchering, observe Aunt Dort's rules of etiquette and eat her scrumptious meals, and try to decipher Bert and his friends' references to girls. Later, we attended some of Bert's basketball games when he was an all-stater for Lawrence, and everyone could see how all of his teammates looked upon Bert as "the straw that stirs the drink." Bert was quiet but wise, disciplined and determined, good-humored, and caring of others. One can see those attributes of his and Connie's in all three of his wonderful daughters. And I know that Bert's brother, Norman aka Jake, his only sibling, could supply dozens of colorful anecdotes that would boil down to endorse what I've always felt about Bert: he was a mighty strong, mighty fine man. Anytime you came in his vicinity, he made you feel good. And luckily, you can still feel good even when you think about him.
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John Woodford
July 11th, 2023 at 3:46pm
