A Railroad Man

This is my grandmother's younger brother Gus Reiner.  He was just three years younger than Grandma.  Born in Michigan in 1875, he was destined to see a lot more of the world than his siblings.  When he was still a young boy his  grandfather took all of the children and brought them home to Woodford County, Illinois to live with him and their grandmother.  Why this happened is a story that isn't very clear.  I was told when I was young that great-grandfather, a minister, wasn't able to support his family.  Whether this is true or not we will never know.

Great-grandfather liked to take a nap in the afternoon.  Three lively boys made too much noise in the house.  And so winter, fall, spring or summer, the boys were sent out to the barn to keep the house quiet.  They didn't like this banishment.  But somehow, they made it fun.  The railroad tracks ran near the farm and every afternoon they could hear the roar of the big engine and the rattle of the cars as the train sped past the farm.

Uncle Gus was hooked from that time on.  As soon as he was able he left the farm and signed up as a conductor on the railroad that served Nevada and Utah.  I guess his reasoning was 'the farther away from home the better.'

Before he left he promised his sweetheart that he would come back and they would marry.  He wrote her letter after letter.  And none came back from her.  Heart-broken, he must have decided that she had a change of plans.

Little did he know the true reason for the break in correspondence.  His mother and his younger sister thought that his finance would be a better match for his younger brother, Fred.  Somehow, they intercepted his letters to his sweetheart so she never received them.  And in the meantime, they encouraged the budding romance between the younger son and the 'poor, neglected' girlfriend.  The next thing Gus heard was that Fred and his fiancé had been married.  Poor Gus.

He soldiered on.  I imagine he had lots of friends and adventures.  I have the program from a Railroad Ball that was held in Elko, Nevada in the 1920's.  Uncle Gus must have had some fun along the way.  He lived in rooming houses in towns that the train went through.  And being a single man, he put his extra money in banks in those places.

I met Uncle Gus when he came home on vacation to visit my Aunt Nettie.  He was a quiet man, with a kind way with children.  I can't remember having very many conversations with him, but I did like seeing him when he came to our house.

When my grandmother was in the nursing home I went with him to visit her.  He stood at the end of the bed and said, "There's the girl with the golden hair!"  My grandmother, who was in the first stages of dementia, smiled. It was as if I was seeing her as a young girl seeing her little brother for the first time in a long while.  My heart swelled with love for this man who was able to bring a smile to my beloved grandma's face again.

When Gus passed away he left us with some things to remember him by.  My mother received her share of that saved money that had been put away in all those many banks along the railroad line.  It was enough for her to buy a little white house at the end of the road in New Hampshire...a dream come true for her.  He left his railroad watch to my brother Paul.  It is a wonderful thing to behold....meant for use and used each day by Gus as he made sure the trains were on time and on schedule.

But the real thing he left for me was his example of facing up to the hard facts of disappointment and continuing to live the life he chose.  Can't go wrong with that kind of legacy.  That's for sure.