Gus

The picture is of Dad's best friend, Gus Hien.  Other aliases: William, Bill , GW and Heinleg.  You will notice that there are letters from him to my mom as well.  I have them placed in the order in which they were written.  In his letters you will see he refers to my dad as Stretch or ST.  My dad was 6'4" and very lean at 20!  I was able to locate Gus' daughter on the internet and sent her all the originals of her dad's letters so that she could have and cherish her dad's letters.  We have become friends and I look forward to meeting her in person (once again since we did meet many years ago when we were in elementary school).  We both share a strong bond with our dads, even though they are both gone now and still consider ourselves, daddy's girls!

Gus' gravesite in Ann Arbor, MI
The tree where Gus is laid to rest.

Copyright © 2013 Mary Elizabeth Zill VandenBerghe

Alicia Hein Buff Cook 26.09.2016 04:02

I like my brother, think this is such a great tribute to our dad, and yours, along with others. Thank you so much Liz!!

William Hein 03.11.2014 15:25

I am beyond elated, that my father is remembered by the daughter of my Godparents.

Smitty 23.08.2014 23:40

I was glad to see the piece about '' GUS ''.I to a republican.

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Latest comments

04.10 | 19:01

Of course, thank you for asking! Would love to see what you write if you can share when you are done.

04.10 | 18:39

I'm writing a book on Christmas in Wartime. Would it be ok to use a couple of comments in your dad's letters related to Christmas in the book? Many thanks!

09.07 | 22:16

If your related to Celia Gearhart Nash 1913-1988. Please contact me. I have a self-published book of poems written by her titled the View From My Window

05.09 | 07:05

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