Daniel Joseph Wise Jr.- My Grandad.

Daniel Joseph Wise Jr was born on July 16, 1915 in Denison, Texas. His father was Daniel Joseph Wise Sr. and his mother was Corrine Caroline Clohecy. He had two brothers, It was Gerard (he hated Gerald) and he was called Jerry and Hilton and two adopted brothers named Robert and Glenn. Both Robert and Glenn had mental disabilities. His father            "disappeared" in 1937. He married Esther Berle Young on September 18, 1937 and they had two daughters-Bonita and Sandra. Daniel served in the Navy during World War 2 and was an engineer by trade. 

Grandad and his brothers

After the war, he and my Nana moved their family to Alaska. My grandma remembers the dirt roads that they took from Texas to finally arrive in Alaska. Daniel loved to socialize and enjoyed country line and partner dances. They survived the great earthquake of of 1964. When Daniel retired, he and Nana moved to Arkansas and built their forever home.  Daniel was diagnosed with cancer and passed away on August 2, 1972 in Fort Smith, Arkansas. He was buried in Opelousas, Louisiana.

I never knew my great-grandfather (Grandad) but this is how my mother remembers him: "I always knew he loved me. He left this life (and me) far too early. I loved spending the summers with him and my Nana in the south after he retired from Alaska. We'd drive the 11 miles on a country road, in his pickup with the windows down, as we went to town. Our destination? Sonny's Oldsmobile Dealership. We'd get a 'cold drink' and Grandad would visit with the dealers. I'd walk around the shiny new cars and pretend they were mine. Sometimes, we'd stop at the Avoca One Stop. (It should have been called the 'only stop'!) It was a one pump gas station with an ice cream freezer. He would sit and chat with the mechanics while my ice cream melted in the heat. My grandad could make a friend of anyone he ever met. I'm lucky he was my best friend and I get to see him again someday. He's my hero."

Pictures from top to bottom: Daniel as a young man, Daniel in the Navy (2 pictures) a note he wrote to Esther and him with my mother when she was a baby.