Did I do that?
For Evelyn, it is hard to look at three generations of her family and not consider herself blessed that things weren’t far more screwed up.
Evelyn was born on a small farm in eastern Nebraska during the Great Depression, and just when the economy was beginning to recover, World War 2 broke out. Still in high school, she did her part by helping the war effort through rations and recycling, but her primary focus was receiving top grades so she could become a nurse.
She had just finished her nursing program when World War 2 came to an end, but she found a position at the VA Hospital taking care of the wounded veterans returning from the war.
This is how she met Thomas Christian Uehrkle. T.C. enlisted after Pearl Harbor and joined the Navy, serving on the infamous “Battleship X” also known as the USS South Dakota. After years of service as an artillery loader in Turret 2, TC was wounded in a rearming accident that killed several of his friends and left him badly burned.
Evelyn tended to his wounds for months after the war came to an end, and even after he was discharged, the wrote regularly, and in 1947, TC moved to Omaha from Grand Island to work at the stock yards. They married in 1948.
Wilbur Uehrkle was born a few months later, and with steady employment at the stock yards, TC bought a three-story, six bedroom house with plans of filling it with children.
Tragedy struck in 1958.
Because of his burns, TC often wore suspenders so that the tender skin around his hip would not be cinched tight by a belt. While working in the bacon production line, TC’s suspenders caught on a low hanging hook that took him right into harm’s way.
Although TC recklessly chose comfort over safety, he did show unusual wisdom by taking out a large life insurance policy through Mutual of Omaha, which not only paid off the house loan but also left Evelyn cared for.
Following the death of her beloved husband, Evelyn was able to support herself with her insurance money, but raising Wilbur proved to be more difficult than she could imagine.
After losing his father, Wilbur became a very difficult child that caused problems in school and frequently found himself on the other side of the law.
Evelyn’s friends insisted that young Wilbur simply needed a male figure in his life, but every suitor she brought home received a hellacious hazing from angry Wilbur.
By the mid sixties, Wilbur had become the usual suspect for any robbery or vandalization in the neighborhood. On the wrong side of the law and with no academic prospects, Wilbur followed in his father’s footsteps and enlisted in the Navy and was promptly sent to Vietnam, where he served on a patrol boat on the Mekong River.
The wild child from Omaha grew even wilder.
Although Evelyn wrote to him frequently, his responses were rare. When his enlistment papers ended in 1970, he followed a friend to the oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, where he worked for several years.
Evelyn heard little from her only son.
Then in 1980, he wrote Evelyn that he had a daughter, Susan, from a woman whom he’d had a short relationship. The mother, Jasmine Fluegger, had been arrest for drug possession, armed robbery, and attempted murder and would be going to prison for ten years. After a decade as a bachelor on an oil rig, Wilbur knew he would not be a fit father, but knowing that Susan was his flesh and blood, agreed to take responsibility of the child, which meant sending her to Nebraska to be raised by Evelyn.
While he continued to send financial support for his daughter, Wilbur’s wild life continued until he also did a short stint in prison for drunk driving.
When Wilbur came out of prison, he was a changed and determined man. With young Susan under the care of his mother in Omaha, he took advantage of his VA College benefits and enrolled at Texas Christian University for no other reason than it had the initials of his dearly departed father.
While at TCU, he met Joyanna Smith, a guidance counselor who helped the thirty-something college student through the rigors of getting a college degree. Although Joyanna was not the typical woman for Wilbur (frumpy would be a good description) he found she was the yin to his yang, and despite his caustic and almost abusive style, she helped smooth away his rough ends.
By 1990, Wilbur and Joyanna were married, and even though she could not have any children, she saw Susan as her own daughter, and then, for the second time, Evelyn found her house empty when Susan returned to Texas to live with her father and his new wife.
After years of causing his mother grief, Wilbur found himself on the receiving end when Susan proved to be a little more than difficult to raise. By the time she graduated in 1998, Wilbur and Susan were ready to enjoy their life together.
But these empty-nesters soon found their time focused on the ailing health of Evelyn, who battled breast cancer over the winter of 2005.
Although things looked rough for a while, Wilbur and Joyann stood beside his mother during and after treatment. Wilbur fixed up his childhood home, and Joyann found a part time job at UNO.
Like mother, like daughter?
Back down in Texas, Susan struggled with drugs and relationships, and by 2013, she had four children. The old, three story house that had stood empty for so many years suddenly found itself housing eight Uehrkles.
So on Saturday, September 15, 2018, Eveylne celebrated her ninetieth birthday with a dinner at Olive Garden. As they sat waiting for a large enough table, with great-grandchildren telling tales of soccer, Evelyn had to ask herself, “Did I do that?”
Yes, Evelyn, you did.
Well done, Evelyn. Well done.
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