|
This site is intended to be a gathering place for us to share stories and
history about the family if you wish. I hope to hear from you.
Lil tells us about Roland...
"Rol was real quiet. Quiet and very special, the last of that
big Hummer family. He was a bit smaller than the other boys when he was growing up, but the brothers roughed him up just like
they did everyone else. The thing that I really remember the most is Rol loved dessert. It didn't matter what it was and he
would deliberately take his time, and I mean take. his. time. and he would often have to hold his arms around what he was
eating because the boys would try to snatch it away from him. If it was fruited jello, or pudding or a piece of cake or pie,
he would shield it with one arm and eat it with the other so they couldn't get at him.
Did I tell you about the time
that he wanted to be called Tom? For Tom Mix. He'd ride the railing on the porch. The picture of Grandma on the front porch,
that's the front of the house now, but when we were growing up that porch was L-shaped. Rol would sit on the side railing
and that was his horse.
Your father was First Chair Clarinet in the Ohio State Band when he was still in high school.
They chose the best musicians from all over Ohio.
He had blonde, blonde hair. I can see it in my mind's eye so plainly.
I cut the boys hair. They didn't go to the barber when I was home. Even after I was married, I would go home to give the boys
a haircut. And when I say the boys, it was always the three youngest, Bobby, Roy and Roland."
|
| Bobby, Rol and Roy |
As a kid, Rol played sandlot sports and went swimming or
fishing. He started clarinet in 6th grade and continued to play all through his life. He was also a fine tenor.
When
he turned 18, he volunteered for duty in the United States Air Force where he served as a radar mechanic in World War II from
1943 to 1946.
Rol wrote about his military service in a letter to a young family friend
thinking of joining the Marines:
"I remember when my brother, Norm, joined the Marines right after Pearl Harbor. He was assigned to the 1st Marines
Co. C in a tank battalion. They called them "crawlin coffins". Seems almost a lifetime ago, 1941.
I
asked for the Army Air Forces. I figured I was going to fly those planes. Left home for pre-induction physical and I was
6 pounds underweight. They told me to come back the following week, eat alot of bananas and drink alot of water. Anyway,
I made the weight and was shipped out with a bunch of other greenhorns.
We had to take a battery of tests, one
tested our ability in handling flight controls and I failed miserably in depth perception. For those of us who realized we
weren't pilot material, it was a low blow, especially when the chosen few were issued their powder blue Air Force uniforms
and marched off as a group.
I was to report to a course in Radio Mechanics school. Heck, I wasn't even going
to part of a flight crew.
We soon had too much to learn in too short a time to spend time moaning about not being officer
material.
One makes many friends while in service. Each step along the way, one finds himself meeting people
from all walks of life. I never minded service. It got me out of a little town and I saw and did alot in those years.
We were assigned to a Squadron numbering 21 planes. Our job was to test and keep the radar equipment in operating condition.
We went to Hollandia and Biak Island in New Guinea, Tanauan Leyte and Clark Field in the Phillipines and Ie Shima, Iwo Jima
and Tachikawa, Japan. There's alot out there. Don't waste your life. They say the service will make or break you. My service
time ended 35 years ago. I was one of the lucky ones. It ended in the final analysis as a positive experience. I wish the
same for you.
Doc H.
His honorable discharge papers list his honors as Staff Sergeant: Victory
Medal, American Theater Ribbon, Asiatic Pacific Theater Ribbon w/ 3 Bronze Battle Stars, Phillipine Liberation Ribbon w/ 1
Bronze Battle Star, 2 Overseas Bars and a Good Conduct Medal.
Under the GI Bill, Rol went to Kent State University and Northwestern University
Dental School, earning his Dental Degree in 1952.
He took over the dental practice of sister Viola's husband, Dr. Niles H. Kinnunen at 322 High Street in
Fairport Harbor. Then, he moved to an upstairs office at 202 Third Street
above Colgrove's Drug Store. Later, Rol opened his beloved home-office on Mentor Avenue and Hollycroft Lane. He
practiced dentistry for 31 years until he died of a sudden heart attack on Christmas Eve, 1983. He had set out in
a blizzard to do someone a favor for his daughter.
The sons of both Dr. Kinnunen and Dr. Roland Hummer became dentists. Dr. Niles Kinnunen, Jr. practiced in Florida and Dr.
Steven Hummer in Mentor, Fairport Harbor, and Hillard, Ohio. Like his dad, Steven is a very fine dentist. Rol (Grandpa
Doc to the grandchildren he never knew) would be proud.
I hope family will contribute thoughts or mementos here...
The Boys
| Bobby, Roy, Roland, Norm ? |
|
|
| Photo "Made By Roland" on July 5, 1940 |
|
|
| Bobby, Rol, Roy and... |
Roy
Bobby
Norm
Arn
Ev
Flo
Lil
Click here and find out how Lil and Dave met...
Vi
Rufus
The First Born
| Found in Dad's things |
|
|
| The coal machine where Uncle Rufus worked. |
David Lee Says:
This is the coal machine where Uncle Rufus worked. It would lift the coal cars up to the top of the structure and then
tip them over into a hopper. The coal would slide down a shoot and into the boat. I believe it was the Ashtabula and Buffalo
Coal Dock.
|
![Bobby, Rol, Roy and ....](/imagelib/sitebuilder/misc/show_image.html?linkedwidth=actual&linkpath=https://familyofhummers.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/threeboys.jpg&target=tlx_new&title=Photo "Made By Roland" on July 5, 1940)
![Rol and Murray, 1926](/imagelib/sitebuilder/misc/show_image.html?linkedwidth=actual&linkpath=https://familyofhummers.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/rol-murray-1925-26-2.jpg&target=tlx_new&title="Rol with Murray and Sand Pail" 1926)
