How William George La Fleur Got His Name
When Dad was born there were already four William's round the house, both his grandfathers, his father, and a cousin. There were so many in fact, they went by Bill plus whatever your middle name is (like Bill-J for my grandfather).
When Nani was expecting Dad she already had two daughters, and although this might be her only son, she said that she was going to name him Jeff, not William.
The night Dad was born, my grandfather was on duty, and actually fighting a fire that night.
When he got back to the fire house and found out he had a son he raced to the hospital without evening changing or cleaning up.
When Nani saw her hero, still sooty from the fight, she couldn't possibly bring herself to name his son Jeff. When the nurse asked the baby's name, my Papa said, "Marie?"
With a tear of pride in her eye she said, "His name is William."
Don't ask me where the George came from.
Sorry this took so long to post. I actually wrote it while at Owasippe, but I had a bit of trouble getting it off the electronic storage I had it on. As it turns out it's a pretty good story to start with and a good story for his birthday.
By the way, that was 6 Aug 42. On Dad's third birthday we dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima. If anyone knows the fire his father was in please leave a comment.
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