EJ Hiller at Charlevoix Lumber Mill, date unknown. (Sure wish I could read the date on that calendar. Note: See comment below)
I was 8 years when my great grandpa died and his was the first funeral I attended. The contrast of the church service and burial and crying with the light-hearted conversation and children playing in the yard at the luncheon afterwards was very confusing. I remember thinking that I should be sad and the realization that people I loved were sad and crying, but I never knew him and I don't think had ever met him until I saw him in that casket. Maybe that's why I spend so much time with genealogy - to get to know the ancestors I never had a chance to meet.
Not unlike most people, Ernest James Hiller's life was filled with joys and sorrows, great sorrows. Surely, losing a child then a wife within a week could be called the greatest life tragedy one could possibly endure. But he did endure. He continued to work, raise his son (with the help of family), remarry and have three more children
Telegram EJ Hiller sent to his son, Don (my grandfather), informing him of his brother's death.
only to have his world heaved again in 1943 with the death of his son Lee. Like I said, great sorrows. And endurance. For most of us, we won't dare let our minds wander to these thoughts. We just thank the Lord and pray it never happens in our lives.
Over the years, as I have researched my great grandpa and his story and collected death certificates, telegrams, photos and even the old pot-belly stove from his home in Charlevoix, I am truly amazed by the strength of this man I never met. However, I really shouldn't be as his father and his father before him have equally inspiring stories which I will share in due time. If only I knew at 8 years old what I know now, there would have been tears that day.
See EJ Hiller's full story here.