|
This site is intended to be a gathering place for us to share stories and history about the family. If some prefer I not include certain types of information, I shall, of course, respect these wishes.
Roland On holiday afternoons, my Dad would sit down at the kitchen table and compose a letter to our family.
When we were all gathered around the turkey and fixings that would become so familiar year after year, but now are only a memory that feels the same as a dream, Dad would put on his glasses and read his letter to us like a prayer.
His letters to us were always about us. Love. Family. Simple things. Sometimes he would share the words of someone he thought much wiser than he.
Mostly, he would talk about how good it was to be together; that it will not always be so and such is life. Always, he told us to keep alive the spark that knows there is a God who cares. --Jody
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."
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 Sargeant: 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 completed undergraduate studies at Kent State University and was accepted by Northwestern University Dental School in Chicago, earning his Dental Degree in 1952.
Two years later, Dr. R. J. Hummer took over the practice of his brother-in-law, Dr. Niles H. Kinnunen at 322 High Street in Fairport Harbor. Dr. Kinnunen had practiced in Fairport since 1933 and was a very active citizen of the community before moving to Florida where he continued dentistry until his retirement. Rol practiced dentistry for 31 years.
The sons of both Dr. Kinnunen and Dr. Hummer became dentists. Dr. Niles Kinnunen, Jr. practiced in Florida and Dr. Steven Hummer recently moved his own practice to High Street in Fairport Harbor, very near his father's first office. Like his dad, Steven is a very fine dentist. Rol would have been proud.
We hope family will contribute to the following biographies. Roy Bobby Norm Arn Ev Flo Lil Click here and find out how Lil and Dave met... Vi Rufus |
