The Banana Chronicles - A Part of My Family Heritage

Months ago I was contacted by a journalist in Costa Rica working for an online magazine, Neotropica, that was going to do an issue on the good, the bad, and the ugly of United Fruit Company's activities in Central America during the first half of the 20th century. I was contacted because of a post I had done on this blog that referenced my family's ties to Central America - particularly Honduras where my mother (the smallest child in the photo above) was born and Panama where she later lived. The magazine issue is now up online and can be found here. The story on my grandparents (pictured below in 1922), which includes a number of family photos from the 1920's and 1930's that I furnished to the publication, begins on page 17 of the magazine. My mother still holds investment interests in both Panama and Honduras and I hope to visit both countries someday.
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United Fruit did many unfortunate things during its de facto rule of Central America. However, I remain convinced that the Medical Department of which my grandfather was a member, did much good and that the medical personnel had the best of motives. I'd be interested in hearing readers' thoughts.

Life's Random Winds

It is ironic that I had posted recently about the my family's summer home on Brantingham Lake where I spent so many wonderful summers. One of the frequent occurences we had as I grew up was all of the aunts, uncles and cousins within the extended family gathering at the lake house - through my grandfather's sister, Kathleen Phelps Lyng, I still have many cousins of various degrees in the area. Dinners at the camp - as summer homes are called in that area - with 24 or more people was a common occurence.

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In any event, I just found out that the son of one of my second cousins who still lives in the general vicinity of the summer place was killed in an ATV accident. He was just 19, smart, a well rounded athelete, and as the photo at left indicates, a very handsome guy. Speaking with his grandmother by telephone (she was always a favorite of mine) was such a sad, sad time. She truly treasured him as did all of his family. It truly demonstrates how all of us need to treaure our loved ones and find wonder in each and every day because we never know when a tragedy may stirke. I hope Jerome that you rest in peace and that those closest to you find away through their current sorrow: Here are some highlights from Jerome's obituary:

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GLENFIELD — Jerome M. Branagan, 19, Lovers Lane Road, died Sunday of injuries suffered in an all-terrain vehicle accident on Adams Hill Road in the town of New Bremen. He was pronounced dead at Lewis County General Hospital, Lowville.

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In high school, he was a member of National Honor Society and of the baseball, football and wrestling teams. He was a dean's list student and a member of the baseball team at SUNY Canton.

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A funeral Mass will be said at 10 a.m. Friday at St. Peter's Catholic Church, Lowville, with the Rev. Christopher J. Looby, parochial vicar, officiating. Burial will be at 1:30 p.m. Friday in Brantingham Cemetery.

My Adventurous Grandparents

I have done several posts about my family history, including my mother's side of the family and the years that she and her parents lived in Central America. One of the old photos I found recently stashed away in an album is posted above. It was taken in 1922 in Almirante, Panama, where my mother's oldest sister was born a year or so later. A year or so after that, my grandfather was transferred to head up the hospital in Puerto Castilla, Honduras, where my mother and her other sister was born.

Sadly, my mother's father died when I was 11 and my grandmother suffered a devasating stroke about five or six years later. As a result, I never got to know them as I would have liked - they were unique, unconventional and adventurous individuals. It would have been so interesting to have been able to ask them all the things I would now so love to know about them and their lives. In the photo (which enlarges with a left click), my grand father was 35 and my grandmother was 26.