My first year of college was at Louisiana Tech in Ruston, Louisiana. Tech/ Ruston is somewhat of an ancestral home for my McBride clan. Both my parents did undergraduate at Tech. They met there. Dad's father lived there in his earliest years. His father, my great grandfather John Sherwood McBride, built a house on Mississippi Street. That house is long gone. My grandmother was at Tech in the early 20's and often spoke fondly of her time there. Today, all of these folks are buried in Ruston.
My time in Ruston was short. I was only there for a year but it was a great year. I had no car so my entertainment options were limited. One Sunday afternoon I wandered off campus and into the city's Greenwood Cemetery. I knew I had people there and eventually found the "McBride" plot containing my grandfather, William McGinty McBride Sr. As I recall, there was a stone for my grandmother, Annie Lou as well, but the death date was blank as she was still with us. Next to them was a stone that read, "John Sentell McBride son of McGinty McBride and Annie Lou Sentell" with the dates of 1935-1939. I was a bit surprised to see my full name on a tombstone. The next time I called home, I told mom I had seen this stone. She told me about Wacky.
Mom had named me. She chose to use her mother-in-law's maiden name "Sentell" for my middle. Maybe she just liked the name "John" or maybe it is from Dad's grandfather, John Sherwood McBride. At any rate Mom was not aware that there had already been a John Sentell McBride. Dad, apparently, didn't realize it either. Dad was only 9 when his brother died. Dad had known him as "Wacky." The original John went by the name "Jack" but he was called "Wacky" because of his older siblings' difficulty pronouncing "Jackie". His death was a major blow to the family. I have granddaddy's diary from those years and the entries around Wacky's 1939 death are heartrending. Granddaddy was a doctor and it is surmised that Wacky died of an illness that granddaddy brought home "from the office". Dark dark days.
As much as she liked to talk about her past, I don’t remember my grandmother ever mentioning Wacky. Mom says Grandmother was upset when she heard what I had been named. By then it was too late. Mom felt terrible about upsetting Grandmama. Had she known, I would have been named something else. So, I was not called Jack, Jackie and certainly not Wacky. I was John. That must have been ok with Grandmama eventually. I only have wonderful fond memories of my time with Grandmama Lucy. She was funny and fun and not a little bit mischievous. She was full of stories and interesting observations. I'm sorry she had to suffer the tragic loss of Wacky but I think she overcame it.
This week, Uncle Wacky would have turned 90 years old. Wouldn't it have been great to have had a whole nuther crew of McBride cousins running around Louisiana?
