Nansemond County Virginia USGenWeb Archives News.....Reunion, 1953 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/va/vafiles.htm ************************************************ More Than Half-Century Apart Father, Son Are Reunited; Both Believed Other Dead By ELLISON SMITH A reunion that has been 52 years in the making - and, save for sheer chance might not have ever happened - was accomplished here Friday afternoon. A father and son spoke together for the first time in their lives. The father had not seen his son since he was a tiny baby and the son, naturally, had no past recollections of his dad. In fact, both father and son thought the other dead. Fate intervenened in the form of a letter to bring Guy Uzzell of Kankakee, Ill., 53, and his father Vanakin Uzzell, 78, now of Suffolk, together here. The letter had been sent by the son, born in Newport News, to a school he attended near Phoebus, requesting confirmation that he had once been a student there. Guy said that he needed some identification of his early life to qualify for a job in Kankakee. "It was impossible for me to prove who I said I was," Guy explained. FOLLOWS THROUGH The School - Old Point Comfort College and grade school - is no longer in existence. It is now the site of the Sacred Heart Novitiate, a Catholic order training institute. A Brother, who today in a telephone conversation requested anonymity, saw the letter and "followed through", although the records of the old school of Guy's were not available. He said that he tried to contact classmates of Uzzell’s with no success. Then, without much hope of turning up anything about Guy’s past, be called up the one Uzzell the telephone book. They turned out to be cousins, the Brother said, who reported that Guy’s father was still alive. The Brother at the novitiate wrote back to Uzzell that his father was still living and that he could get further information from relatives. At this point, Guy Uzzell - a tall, powerful-looking man with a lined and weathered face - takes over the story. He said that he did not know that he still had relatives in this area, but that when he heard the news he came to Newport News immediately. "You see I didn’t have any idea that dad was alive. I guess I thought I was sort of all alone as far as family goes," Uzzell explained. RELATIVES UNKNOWN "I didn’t know I had any cousins here. Sometimes I wondered if mine was the only such name in existence," he added. "I’ll tell you finding Dad has been the greatest happiness in my life," the younger Uzzell said yesterday as he sat on the porch on N. Main Street where the reunion took place. His father lives with a daughter by a second marriage and son-in-law, W.H. Bowers. Guy said he didn’t know that he had a half-sister until he came to Suffolk. According to the son, the episode started in 1901 when "mother left my dad". He said that he had lived from then on, knowing nothing about his father, with his mother and grandparents. Father Uzzell, who is 78, added that he had been working on construction jobs around the country at that time and that be soon lost track of his wife, "after she left." Guy continued the history of the separation "Mother and I never really settled. I was shuttled between Norfolk, Newport News, Berkley and Portsmouth for years. It was a merry-go-round for a kid." He added that his mother married again and "I was disgusted. I knew he was my step-dad and all that, but I resented him. It just didn’t click right." Uzzell said that the family had discouraged any talk about his real father. "He was dead as far as I knew. Nobody would ever tell me he was alive," Uzzell explained. The upshot of the situation was that Guy ran away from home at age 13 and never came back. "It was in 1914 or 15. I don’t remember. I had run away before. But this time I stayed," he said. Since then, he said, he had been all over the world and all over the United States in one job or another. He shipped out on tramp steamers and went to Europe, Asia, South America and Africa, the wanderer reported. During his years of wandering in this country he has worked everywhere - except New England as a "gandy dancer (railroad section worker), bellhop, store clerk" and a variety of other jobs, he proclaimed. SAW THE WORLD "I paid, bummed and hitch hiked across the country. Well, actually, I wasn’t bumming. I worked. But I just wanted to keep on looking. I went to sea; across the waters I saw every port in South America as well as most of Europe, China, Tangiers and Vladivostok." "It’s hard to express how I feel now. I didn't have any folks all those years. I guess I was running away front something. I didn’t know what. I batted around all over. Where I went didn’t make any difference - it was all the same," Uzzell reminisced. Father Uzzell, in the meanwhile was wandering also. He took on house construction jobs all over the country. A native of Isle of Wight County, he returned permanently to this area a good many years ago. He didn’t remember just when. "I don’t know the dates too well. A man goes a lot of places in 78 years," he emphasized. He said that he had only had one fleeting glimpse of his first wife "since she left me" and added that he had been told 25 years ago that his son was dead. Neither father or son knew the present whereabouts of the mother. When Guy received the news from the Brother, he was detained in Kankakee for three days. He was married there three years ago and had settled down in the city, he explained. LIKE CAGED LION "But when I heard about Dad, it was as if I had found something I’d been looking for all my years of wandering. I was like a lion pacing a cage. I couldn't get here fast enough," he pondered. The younger Uzzell arrived in Suffolk Friday at noon. When his father came home from a house-building job he supervises at Tynes and Johnson Streets - there was his son. He had no previous warning of the fact that his son was alive or of the impending visit. Even the reunion did’t keep father home from work, however. So son and father went out that afternoon and both worked on the project. "Business before pleasure", said Father Uzzell laconically. The newly-joined father and son will have a week to 10 days to really become aquainted. Then the younger Uzzell has to return to Illinois. He hopes however to return here permanently by next Christmas. "I'll never get away from dad again. He’ll never get away from me again, either," Guy Uzzell said with a show of emotion. His father nodded agreement. [photo, captioned:] IT'S BEEN A LONG, LONG TIME - Guy Uzzell (left) looks fondly at his 78-year-old father whom he has not seen for 52 years. And the last time he did see Dad, Guy was only a few months old. A letter started the chain of circumstances that led to the reunion after the many intervening years. The two met at the home of W.H. Bowers, Jr., on N. Main Street. Uzzell is the elderly father of Mrs. Bowers, Guy’s half-sister. More Than Half-Century Apart Father, Son Are Reunited; Both Believed Other Dead Vanakin UZZELL, of Suffolk, age 78, Guy Madison UZZELL, of Kankakee, IL, age 52, "Suffolk (VA) News-Herald," Vol. 31, No. 98, Apr. 26, 1953, p. 9, col. 1-3 Additional information: Vanakin is buried in Cedar Hill Cemetery (Block P, Lot 43*), Suffolk. Cedar Hill list, an extension of the Southampton County Historical Society {SCHS} Cemetery Project: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/nansemond/cemeteries/cedar_s.txt His obits ("Suffolk News-Herald," July 7 & 8, 1953) are posted at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/nansemond/obits/u240v1ob.txt He m. Mary Helen STRANSBURY, daughter of Alex T. & Mary Helen (LAMB/LAND) STRANSBURY, 21 Nov 1900 in Newport News. Guy was b. 22 Dec 1901, though his WW-II draft card gives 1900. Guy's mother eloped Sep 1902 with one of Vanakin's brothers; Vanakin filed for divorce Dec 1902. Articles ("Richmond Dispatch" & "Times") are posted at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/newportnews/vitals/u240v1dv.txt She 3m. Navy steward John Milton PADGETT. She d. 22 Mar 1922, in Norfolk, and was buried in St. Mary's Cemetery, Norfolk. She 1m. Arthur DUGUID 20 Jul 1897 in Petersburg, but things must not have worked out. He appears as single in the 1900 Census, living with his mother in New Bern, Craven Co., NC. Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by File Manager Matt Harris (zoobug64@aol.com). file at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/nansemond/newspapers/19530426nh.txt