John Dewey Birmingham stood about five feet four and weighed perhaps one hundred and thirty pounds. He was in the vernacular of the time, "bad to drink," and somehow managed on February 28, 1951, to shoot off his left arm.John Dewey and Aunt Grace lived just south of the cemetery, across the street from Miss Dixie. Their marriage was often tumultuous, especially during his frequent binges.
John Dewey painted and in the summer of 1962 was working for his close friend, Leroy Belk, painting at a county school. He was working underneath an overhand; several college boys were painting on top when the overhand fell and broke John Dewey's leg. Since Aunt Grace worked at McGaughy's Department Store, my grandmother and Doris took care of him. He seemed to be recovering normally until one day he died suddenly from complications from his injury.
Aunt Grace lived five days past her one hundredth birthday. While her body became very frail and she lost much of her hearing, her mind remained sharp, and during her last years, I enjoyed spending hours with her talking about the past. One of her favorite subjects was her husband, and with each telling John Dewey became more and more noble so that had Aunt Grace lived another year or two, John Dewey would have had to have been canonized.
Note: This picture is reversed as John Dewey lost his left not his right arm.
1 comment:
JDB was a frequent solicitor of my father's help. Because of John's alcoholism, my father became well acquainted with AA and had high regard for the 12 step program. When I got involved in Al-Anon, he told me about the alcoholics he'd known and the hardships suffered by their spouses, especially your Aunt Gracie. He had John's copy of "The Big Book" given to him by her after his death, which he gave to me to help me understand the devastating effects of the disease. So indirectly I guess John did some good.
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