In continuation of the Dreaded Boxes Project …
Wash. George Washington Lukehart, Jr. But “Wash” was what his old friends called him. He was my mother’s grandfather, who lived for 106 years. Born in 1856, he had claimed, according to one of my uncles, to have seen Abraham Lincoln as a child, perhaps at a political rally in Kansas before or during the Civil War. I rarely spoke with GW, as he tended to terrify us kids by his ominous-seeming presence. But in reality he rarely interacted with any of us, and kept to himself, reading his newspaper by the winter stove and manually cutting the summer lawn with a scythe (think Grim Reaper) until two or three years before he died. My brother and I would sometimes sneak into his workshop and inspect his curious, antique tools.
Some local newspaper accounts include descriptions of his 104th birthday celebration, including this excerpt:
He was in a tornado once and the blizzard of 1888. Has been in severla floods and has saved people from drowning several times, including his two young sons, at the time who were eight and twelve years old, when the he and the boys were in capsized. He swam to shoare with both boys. He has been in numerous accidents, but has never been seriously injured. Until the past two years he has been quite active, taking long walks every few days. He still enoys good health, but does not get out much as his eyesight is dimming and he is growing deaf.
Another news clipping tells us how he was congratulated by the White House for his birthday:
He received congratulations and best wishes from President Eisenhower:
Please accept my sincere congratulations upon your birthday. May good health by yours through many more happy years.
– Dwight D. Eisenhower
The White House – Washington
August 29, 1960Dear Mr. Lukehart
I am delighted to send you my sincere congratulations as you celebrate your one hundred and fourth birthday on September third. Your special Day observance will be another pleasant occasion to add to your collection of happy memories of the years, I am sure.
Sincerely,
Mamie Doud Eisenhower
Some photographs, much as I remember him from my childhood:
Here is a photograph of GW’s children at much earlier ages. (l. to r. top: Maurice and Roy; l. to r. bottom: Dora and my grandmother Maude).
This is a photograph of my grandmother, Maude, said to be when she was about 17 or 18 years old.
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