WEEK 5 - INFLUENCERS
By Cynthia Keefer Patton
So often we think about someone who influenced us as someone
from an older generation that we looked up to. And often that is the case. We
looked up to a relative that served in the military and want to follow in their
footsteps. But sometimes, there is someone who touches your life only briefly,
but still influences you.
My father, witnessed a tragedy when he was a young boy. His
uncle, who was only three years older than him was his great pal. They grew up
in the same community and played together. Norman Thomas was my grandmother Sarah’s
youngest brother. On one chilly September day in western Pennsylvania, he and
my father were digging coal in an old abandoned mine shaft located at one
corner of the family property. According to Dad they had a little wheelbarrow
and would gather coal to sell to neighbors for some pocket change.
Norman was also very involved in the local Scout program. My
father could not wait until he was old enough to join the Boy Scouts so he
could go off on adventures like his uncle. Dad was nine and "Normie"
was 12. The shaft collapsed in on him while my father watched. He told us often
about it happening, but never any details. Just that he had died. I can imagine
him running as fast as he could back up to the house to tell the adults. And
then the hours and days that followed must have been unthinkably difficult.
Norman's death certificate[1]
lists him as a "School Boy" living in Bullskin Township, Fayette
County, Pennsylvania. The description says "broken neck and internal
injuries following fall of ashes and dirt while digging in a pit hole
(accidental)". My great-grandmother's shaky handwriting is at the bottom
of the form as informant.
My father said he promised God that day that he would become
a Scout and try to do things like Uncle Norman would have done. That influence
drove my father. That promise. He did become a Scout and as an adult he and my
mother were huge influences in many young peoples lives, as Scoutmaster, Den
Mother and Girl Scout Leader. My Dad also held leadership positions in the
North Georgia Council.
Little Normie was an influencer in a way he never knew.
[1]Pennsylvania, Death Certificates, 1906-1970, digital images (ancestry.com: accessed 5 Feb 2024) record for Norman Carlton Thomas, 6 September 1935, certificate 86267.
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