52 Ancestors Week 9

 Gone Too Soon

As soon as I read this weeks theme I knew I would have to write about my Uncle Sidney.  He was my mother's brother, born on Valentine's Day in 1922 and died on Mother's Day in 1953. 

Sidney James Begue 1922-1953

            

John Louis Begue Sr. Family 1946
Travis, Sidney, Gonzales, John Begue Sr., John Jr., Charles
Florence, Leotha, Sara Gonzales Begue, and Vera
(They were all dressed up for Cousin Carmela's wedding.
Uncle Robert is the only one missing.)

Begue Gravestone
McDonoghville Cemetery, Gretna, Louisiana

He was my favorite uncle. My little brother was named for him. We lived around the corner from Grandma and Grandpa so I spent a lot of time at their house. 

I remember him teaching me and my cousins how to build kites and helping us fly them on the levee.  When we went to Grandma and Grandpa's house in Mississippi he would take us crabbing off the sea wall.

During the war (World War II) Uncle Sidney tried to enlist but his high blood pressure made him ineligible so he joined the Merchant Marines.

Some of my earliest memories are of Uncle Sidney coming over to visit us in his uniform. In the end it was his high blood pressure that killed him. He died of a cerebral hemorrhage on May 10, 1953.

I still miss him.    

Two of the birth dates on the stone are wrong.

Joseph M Gonzales was born in 1883 and 

Mrs. John Gonzales (Great Grandma Gonzales)

was born in 1860.