Unearthing a Scandal and Consequences
It starts with a death. Cirrhosis of the liver. So he was an alcoholic. I suppose that's not unusual in 1913, the year of his death, in Kentucky, home of moonshine and copper stills hidden away in the woods. I'm already unhappy for being related to this guy because he was clearly an alcoholic. He had a wife and a large family of 9 children. One of those children was my great-grandfather, who was responsible for me growing up not in Kentucky, but in Oklahoma. I'm not completely sure that that was an improvement. Surely any alcoholic was abusive. They usually are, right? His wife, Sarah, was probably relieved at his passing. Yet, here's a photo of Sarah, her hand on her husband's gravestone. There is a photo of him embedded at the top of the column. She's looking away, clearly distraught. Her sorrow is palpable through the grainy photograph. It was clear she missed him. It was clear that she loved him dearly, despite his faults. After all, she married him, stuck w...