Albert and "Blueberry Hill"

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Alice, Lily and Albert were relatives on my dad's side. Distant cousins. But I grew up hearing their stories, and always wished I could meet them, though they had all passed by the time I was old enough to meet them. They were much older than my dad. @xander6464 inspired me to write about them. Albert had served in WWI - and since the USA got involved in WWI in 1917 - that means Albert and his sisters may well have been born around /slightly prior/slightly post 1900. They were all brilliant and they were all tragic. Albert had served in WWI - and as a young boy my dad would play with Albert's things, including his "army stuff". They only thing that Albert asked my dad to not play with was his gas mask. Dad said Albert was a kind man, and told dad that he could play with anything he had, except the mask. Dad said he had a sad look on his face and dad knew better than to mess with that mask anymore. Poor Albert must have seen some things happen within the context of that mask. After his time in the service Albert went on to become a doctor and a lawyer, taking courses by correspondence. As if this were not achievement enough - Albert played piano and sang beautifully too. As a child I heard a recording of "Blueberry Hill", it wasn't until years later that I came to learn - the record I had heard was Albert singing, and my grandma as a young girl playing piano on it. To my young ears it sounded just like the song on the radio. Albert, in spite of surviving a World War and his achieving his many accomplishments -never went on to marry. Even as an older man, he was too shy to talk to the waitress that he liked at the local cafe. Albert had 2 sisters, Alice and Lily both brilliant and both with their own stories which I will share in future posts. Photo: Pixabay user Pexels