Spock, Uncle Travis and Auburn
Today, I was saddened to learn that Leonard Nimoy, Mr. Spock, died. He was 83, I think, and died of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a disease related to smoking although Nimoy (I almost wrote Spock – it is hard for me to separate the two.) quit smoking over 30 years ago. His death reminds me of two things – I guess in reality, more than two – but these two things jump out at me. First is my maternal grandfather, Travis Moring. Uncle Travis, which I called him when I was a small child and continued to call him until he died. Not that he was anything less than a grandfather to me; it’s just that I can look back and feel the love I had for that man better when I call him “Uncle Travis.” I guess I learned that name because he was not my blood grandfather. Travis married my grandmother Lucile Snow a year or so before I was borne in 1945. My grandmother had divorced (more…)