Meet My Papa

My Papa is my great-grandfather. Actually, he's my step-great-grandfather on my Mom's Mom's side. The second husband of my Nana.

Papa's name is Harold Thurber. A somehow cousin of the author James Thurber. Papa lived from 1905 to 1982 in Vallejo, Eureka, and Napa California. I don't know much about his years before he married my Nana. I do know that he came from a family that had 21 children.

He was married and had a daughter before my Nana. All we knew is that he and his first wife divorced and that he never saw his daughter. Late in his life, his daughter showed up on his doorstep asking if he was Harold Thurber. She said she would return on Easter. Papa was so excited because he loved our family and now his family was coming. Apparently he beamed on Easter waiting for her return...she never showed. Papa was heartbroken.

It's been my mission since starting my genealogy searches to find Papa's descendents, if there are any. I want to let them know what a warm, loving man he was for the short time that I knew him. I want to tell them the story of how he helped me get out of trouble with my Nana and how he thought it was so funny helping me climb on top of their roof (how dangerous was that?) or when he plucked the largest strawberry from his garden and gave it to my older brother and I to share. He was just a neat, neat guy.

Not ever knowing his first wife's name or his daughter's name has been challenging. But, today luck would shine on me. I discovered, through a popular genealogy site, the name I was looking for - Genevieve Burke! Oh, how I see a small light at the end of this tunnel. Oh, how I can't wait to meet Papa's family and I get the chance to introduce him.