To repeat, I haven’t seen any of the four Troutman cousins since my grandmother’s funeral in 1966, that’s how out of touch we’ve been.

I’m going to start with Byrd Troutman because in many ways he’s the most interesting of the four.

Clarence’s sons were all older than I was, so I didn’t get to know any of them as I was growing up. I vaguely remember seeing Byrd, who was born in 1933 and was 16 years older than I was (well, 15 and a half as he was born in December and I in April), but whether I saw him on my grandfather’s farm or at my uncle Clarence’s, I don’t know. And I have a vague memory of my father telling me his name—Byrd. And I didn’t get it right away. I think I heard it as Bert.

But I’ve wracked my brain and I just can’t come up with any anecdotes involving Byrd. I recall seeing him around, I can picture him in my mind, and that’s about it. I have no photos of him. The ones that I’m using in this post come from the newspaper archives.

Oh, yes. There’s one other thing. My mother used to tell me to be careful about eating sugar. Not to use too much on my cereal or anything else, and for goodness sake never eat sugar straight from a spoon. Eating too much sugar could cause something called diabetes and you didn’t want to get that.

You see, Byrd had diabetes. I guess the conventional wisdom in the family was that he had gotten it from eating too much sugar. I wonder if Byrd was shamed into thinking he had brought the diabetes on himself by eating too much sugary foods? I know that for the longest time I believed that eating too much sugar caused diabetes.

I remember being told that Byrd had to give himself an injection in his leg every day. That bothered me. I didn’t mind receiving injections; needles didn’t scare me. But the idea of giving myself an injection, now that was something I didn’t want to think about.

The other thing I remember is that his face had a blotchy complexion. I don’t think it was acne and based on the pictures I see in the newspaper, it doesn’t look like he always had it, so perhaps he developed it as an adult as a result of the diabetes. I really don’t know.

I must have gone to Byrd’s wedding in 1956, though I don’t remember it, but I do remember his wife Grace, and thereafter he and Grace would attend functions together, of course. They lived in Myerstown, and it’s possible that we may have gone to visit them once or twice, but I’m not sure.

Byrd was born on December 4, 1933, in Stouchsburg, PA, and that gives us a clue to his name. For who was in the news during the period towards the end of 1933?

Actually, he had been in the news from 1928 through 1930 and again in 1933, and there were radio programs featuring him as well (television not yet being around at that time). It was Admiral Richard Byrd and his expedition to Antarctica. That young Elsie and Clarence named their son after Admiral Byrd actually tells me more about my aunt and uncle than I think I ever knew about them, at least as far as who they regarded as a hero. I suspect that Byrd must have been proud to learn that he was named after the admiral who led expeditions to both the North and South Poles.

On January 19, 1942, the following appeared in the Lebanon newspaper:

Byrd Troutman, eight-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Troutman, of Schaefferstown, a patient undergoing treatment for a chronic ailment in the University of Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia, is reported to be showing signs of steady improvement according to information received from the institution yesterday. A third-grade pupil in the Schaefferstown schools, the little patient has been undergoing treatment for the past four weeks and will probably be retained at the Philadelphia Institution for approximately two more months until the prescribed course of treatment is completed. He is expected to be completely cured of his ailment at the conclusion of the treatment course and his school mates and friends of the family are pleased to learn of the lad’s steady improvement and response to treatment.

But on February 2, this was published:

Eight-year-old Byrd Troutman who was under treatment for many weeks at the University Hospltal at Phlladelphia, has returned to his home at Schaefferstown. The lad’s plight attracted unusual interest because he was afflicted with diabetes—a disease rarely found in the children. The boy is reported in such a state of convalescence that no insulin treatment was required for two weeks past, and physicians in attendance agreed that if a strict diet is adhered to, no more insulin will be required and the patient should recover normal health in due time.
Byrd’s lather, Clarence Troutman is employed at the Lebanon city plant of the Bethlehem Steel Company.

That raises the question as to who paid for all that time in the hospital. This was before health insurance from employers was generally available. Granted health care costs would have been much lower then, but it still would have amounted to something.

In any case, Byrd must have been a very bright student, as the newspaper reports him as consistently making the honor roll during the next few years, and he must have had the diabetes under control because he had perfect attendance for at least one year.

He’s also reported a few years later as winning several swine raising contests, although he decided he didn’t want to make his career on a farm and went to business school, learned to type 50 word per minute, and decided to become an accountant.

Then in 1956 comes word of his engagement to Grace Mays, a senior at Myerstown High School.

They were wed in September.

In October 1959 their first child, a son named Douglas, was born.

Then on February 2, 1962, the Lebanon Daily News reported that Byrd Troutman was admitted to the Good Samaritan Hospital. 

Eleven days later Byrd died in the hospital.

 

No cause of death was given, but I presume it was related to his diabetes.

At 5:57 on the morning of May 2, 1962, Grace gave birth to their second son, Daniel.

The page from what I presume is a high school yearbook below says that Byrd was only five feet one inch tall. If so, I had no idea. Nobody in our family was known for being especially tall, so it’s certainly possible.

I have only the vaguest recollection of his funeral, and afterwards, we may have seen Grace and the children at a few more family functions and/or funerals, but certainly not after my grandparents died. As far as I can tell, Grace is still with us.