Years ago I was friend with an eccentric woman, Beatrice Gates, who had no children. I met her through the acquaintance of my parents-in-law. She and her husband had owned a local butcher shop on Rte 144. My mother-in-law went there weekly to get fresh meat for the family. The two ladies got along famously and when the butcher shop closed they remained close friends for years.
Every year on their anniversaries, (the two anniversary dates were close,) each couple took turns every other year, taking the other couple out to dinner. They usually went to Saratoga Springs, NY to the Wishing Well Restaurant. When Bea's husband, Charles Gates died, I became a close confidant and power of Attorney to Miss Bea and managed her estate until she died.
When she died her wishes were to be cremated, and put into the same grave in the ground of her dear beloved husband, Charles Gates. The couple were best friends and he died unexpectedly in surgery years before. Bea always regretted having agreed to the surgery and wished he had been left to die on his own time. She thought she would have had him a few years longer.
So unbeknownst to me the grave was in the Vale Cemetery in Schenectady. No one came to her funeral although I called all 75 of her relatives in her personal phone book. No one came. I thought how sad, and I never knew why. She was a giving, kind, woman who, according to her, gave thousands of dollars to help her relatives in her lifetime, including putting a grand niece through her final medical school year. The niece faced not being able to finish due to lack of funds. Surely this niece would come now that she was a successful doctor but, no, when I contacted her family, she did not come.
My mother-in-law died years earlier than Miss Bea, or she would have attended Bea's funeral. My father-in-law asked if he could go with us since I was taking our own little family to the graveside for the interment. Miss Bea was like a Great-Grandmama to them since they had no grandmother here. My father-in-law was a graduate engineer from RPI in Troy and he knew of Charles Steinmetz who was buried nearby. After Miss Bea's funeral we looked and found Charles Steinmetz' grave.
Of course Grandpa John begin to tell the story of the great Charles Steinmetz and his genius with General Electric in Schenectady with Edison. Wow! Right here with our two friends buried in Vale Cemetery.
Yes, we looked Steinmetz up and found much about this life. He had suffered from the kyphosis, an abnormal curvature of the upper spine making him a dwarf like creature since birth. It was a congenital deformity both his parents had. Although he loved children and wanted a family he decided not to marry or have children to prevent possibly passing the deformity to his own children.
He did however build a grand house in Schenectady, N.Y. and in time would have the family he always wanted. He worked long hours with his lab assistant Joseph LeRoy Hayden and in time offered to invite Joseph and his wife, Corrine, to live with him. His wife agreed on two conditions, (1) she could run the household and (2) they would drop whatever they were doing and come to eat when she set the table. Steinmetz agreed.
In time Steinmetz adopted Joseph, and Joseph's children became his legal grand-children. The children loved their Grandfather and the house was always full of engineering experiments that delighted the children year round. Yes there were gasses and explosives created!
Steinmetz, became known as the "Wizard of Schenectady," and attracted some of the greatest inventors of the time among these were Nicholas Tesla, Albert Einstein,Thomas Edison and Henry Ford. His home welcomed new ideas involving electricity. It must have been wonderful to be in that house and just listen.
Steinmetz in his leisure, could be seen floating down the Mohawk River in a canoe scribbling notes as he drifted or riding a bike around town in a suit and top hat. He was among the greatest scientific minds of his century. Yet he was happy with the simple things in life.
So you see, one thing leads to another, a selfless act to carry out the wishes of a lovely older woman introduced us to one o f the great scientists of electricity right here in out back yard, thanks to my dear father-in-law and his great knowledge. Sure do miss him, he was an interesting man, he was a good man and a fun grandfather with all his intellect and his own experiments he shared with our children. It is always good to have an engineer in the family and yes, when there is an engineer, there will be explosives from time to time. Kids love this!
Thankful to have had this good woman Bea in my life, thankful to have this good man John as my father-in-law and thankful to have his good son, Charles Newton as my husband. Life is good.
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