72 Today

What a nice birthday. Lots of cards and calls. It is always good when my birthday falls on Sunday. Going to church is one of my most favorite things to do. I enjoy every part from the singing to the teaching, from the praying to the preaching.From the worship to the praise, plan to be in Gods house the rest of my days.
I was born Aug. 9, 1943 in the St. Johns Hospital in Springfield, Illinois. The doctor that delivered me was Dr. Hill. He lived to be 108. He delivered 2,300 babies.
I guess from what I was told I gave my mother a real hard time the day I was born. So much so that she decided she did not want to do it again. And she never did. So I was an only child. My mother said she wanted a son, so much so that she had the name Warren picked out. Once I arrived she chose the name Werna and put Gail with it. I never liked Werna until I reached about 60 and for some reason I started using it. I think mother would be pleased, now I like it. My father tagged me with the nick name of Corkey. The only ones to call me that besides my parents was my mothers brothers and their father, my grandfather Fred Hartman.

When the doctors looked me over they saw that the second and third toes on my right foot were not separated, they told mother it was an easy fix and should be done right away. She said not until she could talk to my father. When she told him and explained the doctors could fix it, he said "why"? Then he told her his was the same way and it had never caused him any trouble. So guess who grew up not wanting to wear sandals ? He was right other than the pain of vanity it has never been a problem.
So enough about me for now. I plan to write as different memories come to mind. There may not always be rhyme or reason to what I share but it will all be a part of who I am.

Celebrating Together

My family was never big on parties and get togethers. I do not remember ever having a birthday party. My mother would bake a cake somewhere between August the 3rd., my fathers birthday and August the 9th., my birthday. She was a working mom and had very little free time. I was an only child and we had no family close by that we got together with. I do not remember my fathers parents at all. I think his father William H. Berkey had already passed on when I was born.    His mother Daisy Florence had her picture taken with me when I was a few months old, I have no memory of her.  She passed away April 19, 1946.    

 I was always told my father left home when he was very young, like 17. He said his father was very strict and made him work real hard.  However, I found him listed at home in a 1924 census, he was 22 years old. So sometimes what we heard as children can get confused with the facts. I do know for a fact that he was in Chicago, Illinois in 1942 because that is where he met my mother.  He was driving a taxie cab.

Another story he like to tell was about knowing Al Capone, one of Chicago's well known gangsters.      He said he drove Capone's girls around a lot and was liked by everyone so much that when Capone needed a cab he would always ask for them to send Berkey. He was a fun loving kind of guy, aways telling jokes, he liked to make people laugh, and it got him good tips. The best story was when one of the girls left their fur coat in the cab, when my father tried to return it, Al told him to "keep it for his lady".  That was my mothers first and last fur coat.

Here is a picture of us, taken in Springfield, Illinois where I was born. 

He drove a cab when we lived there also.

August is a good place to begin

Since I started my family tree on Ancestry.com I have answered a lot of questions I had about the history of my family. Not everything has been answered but they may come to light in time. I will talk about my father first. His name, Earl LeRoy Berkey. He was born August 3, 1902, in Iowa.  He passed away at the age of 58,on  June the 8th, 1961 in Decatur, Illinois.
He was the oldest of four children. Retta born in 1904, she passed away in 1914, I do not know why.
Dorothy, born in 1908. She married, had a daughter also named Dorothy, and a son she named Earl.I do not know what became of them. He was in the service when his mother passed away and was not able to come home for the funeral. I do remember going to that funeral when I was a child and the daughter, which was called "little Dorothy" was married with children. I do not remember their names, ages or sex. This took place in Springfield, Illinois sometime in the 50's. Because I have no record of last names it would be very difficult to find them. The last of my fathers siblings was a son named Donald. He was born in 1914. He died in 1930. I was told it was a suicide. They said he drove a car off a cliff ? Records show him living with his grandfather Frank at the age of 15 so that must have been right before his death.  Where was his father and mother ?
My fathers mother was Daisy Florence and his fathers name was William H. Berkey. Sometime between 1925 and 1930 she left him. She remarried to Robert Lee Womack. Lived with him until his death in 1945. She passed in 1946 at the age of 66. This makes her 17 years older than him. They are buried at Woodside, Sangamon, Illinois.
I was always told that when Daisy left William that he committed suicide by running his car in the garage. I can find no death record for him or his son Donald. Two questions unanswered for now.
The only pictures of any of my fathers family that I have are one of his mother by herself and one of her with me when I was two months old, 1943. The other photo is of my fathers niece, little Dorothy. She did a cover for a piece of sheet music.