Your brush with history

In My Humble Opinion
21

My grandfather was a friend of Albert Einstein. (http://www.sff.net/people/rothman/einstein.htm).

Composer Benjamin Britten was deeply in love with my father, so much so that he once planned to give up composing to be with him. (http://www.sff.net/people/rothman/britten.htm)

My other grandfather was a pioneer in the development of root canal surgery and in filming dental procedures as a teaching tool. Supposedly, there’s a room in the Columbia University dental school named after him, though knowing how colleges work, it’s probably been renamed or torn down by now.

Louis “Lepke” Buchalter – the inventor of Murder, Incorporated – is a distant cousin. Tony Curtis played him in the movie, “Lepke.”

My grandmother’s family used to supply vegetables for the King of Romania.

22

A very distant relative of mine invented fire.
A very distant relative of mine will invent practical time travel (or already has, depending on your POV).

23

Hermann Goering, Reichsmarschall of the German Empire and founder of the Gestapo, was a distant cousin of mine (sixth or seventh cousin, twice removed, something like that). But that’s not one I usually brag about.

As far as direct ancestors go, I can claim a descent from Hugh le Despencer, gay lover of King Edward II. In an ironic twist, I am also a descendant of Roger Mortimer, the lover of Edward’s Queen Isabella. That just tickles me to death :wink:

24

Gosh – such glorious company here.

Aaron Burr was a distant relation (Burr remains a family name).

My maternal grandfather forced a train driver at gunpoint to take a trainload of civil servants (of which he was one) and their families across the Hungarian border into Germany just ahead of the Russian army at the end of WWII. My paternal grandfather ran a dairy and chain of ice cream stores in northeastern Pennsylvania (not nearly as exciting).

My wife can claim both Dvorak and Howard Hanson as distant relations, and the Van Allen for whom the radiation belt was named is her father’s second cousin (I think he must be 80-something now if he’s still alive, and in Iowa City). Her father went into Cambodia during the Vietnam War (doing “unofficial” things he won’t talk about). And she herself has chatted with Queen Elizabeth.

25

My Dad was one of the pilots who flew American P.O.W.s back to the United States after the Vietnam War.

I saw a documentary about the P.O.W.s last fall, and of course it ended with their release. After they left Hanoi, they spent a couple weeks at the hospital at Clark AFB in the Phillipines. From Clark they were flown back to a base in California. In the documentary, one of pilots talked about how the pilot flew low over the Golden Gate Bridge, and that was the ultimate, unmistakable sign that he was really home. There were several planes coming back, but I asked my dad about it and I’m pretty sure that was my father’s flight he was talking about. I really need to find a copy of that documentary.

26

My grandfather was an Admiral in the Swiss Navy.

27

I’m related to Susan B. Anthony in a not too indirect way.

I’m also related even more closely to Glory Hancock, who fell in love with a British Army officer shortly before WWI. When he was sent to France, the only way she could still be with him was to go as a field nurse. So she ended up throwing herself into the job and braved bullets, barbed wire and gas to drag wounded men right off the front lines. For her heroic efforts she received numerous medals and was(and perhaps still is) the most decorated woman in the world.

And I love to go to the Outer Banks and have conversations with the diehard surfers, as they usually go like this:
Me: You surf competitively at all?
Surfer: Yeah, a little. I do ok.
Me: My cousin did that too. He actually won a championship or two.
Surfer: Cool, like state or regional or something?
Me: More like World.
Surfer: Who the HELL is your cousin?
Me: This guy called Tom Curran. You may have heard of him?
Surfer: falls over

I am bad, using family to brag like that!

Ok, my genuine brush with history: In 1990, about two minutes after walking past a restaraunt in Midtown Manhattan, a mafia hit took place right in front of the restaraunt on the sidewalk. My friend and I heard the gunshots as we were getting into a cab. Eek.

28

I was actually in People Power #1, Manila, 1986.

The revolution starts on Saturday afternoon, Feb 22. All day Sunday, people are gathering in the streets. By early Monday morning there are rumors that Marcos had left, but it quickly becomes clear that he was still around. I was still in university at the time, and virtually the entire student body decides to go to EDSA. It takes some time to organize and get transportation, since the campus was about two hours south of Manila. We get there as night falls.

The revolution is very well organized at this point; people with walkie-talkies are directing people where to go. They decide to use our group of several thousand to blockade one of the strategic bridges south of Camp Aguinaldo, where the main action is going on. We have no clear idea of what was going on, but hear rumors of tanks and tear gas being used farther up. The plan is to use us as a first line of defense. Should troops show up, we would try to delay them as long as possible, without unnecessarily risking our lives. We spend the night on the street. Several drills are conducted, but no tanks show up.

The next morning, we march north. EDSA is a major artery of Manila - eight to twelve lanes. Cars three or four deep are blocking the major intersections. The closer we get to Camp Aguinaldo, the more people there are in the streets; there are literally millions of people. We finally stop short of Camp Aguinaldo because we can go no farther.

Now comes the part I’m a bit embarassed about. At this point, things are so chaotic that no one has any clear idea what’s going on. Some of us decide to go back to campus for whatever reason. We get safely back to the dorm. Rebel forces have seized control of several radio stations and a TV station, so we now actually have better information than the people still out on the streets. Both Ferdinand Marcos and Cory Aquino have been sworn in, separately. All of the other TV stations in the city are taken over. People are now swarming the presidential palace, throwing rocks at loyalists. Marcos flees the country that night.

See these websites for more information about the EDSA revolution:
[ul]
[li] http://library.thinkquest.org/15816/[/li][li] http://www.edsa.com.ph/anniversary/[/li][li] http://www.stuartxchange.com/EdsaContents.html[/li][/ul]

29

Cool stuff Terminus!

But did YOU meet Aquino and Sin? :smiley:

:dodges rocks and bottles:

Kidding!
Were you involved in People Power #2 in any way? Or are you perhaps taking to the streets in defence of Estrada at this very moment? :smiley:

— G. Raven

30

No, but my Dad shook Cory’s hand, back when she was still the grieving widow.

No, I’m in the US right now and I missed the party, dammit.

31

My dad was a manager of a pineapple plantation on Molokai in Hawaii in December, 1941. Sunday morning, the 7th, he was having breakfast on the patio when a green airplane flew low over the house, so low he could see the pilot’s face. Something told him not to wave.

He could barely see Pearl from where he was, but soon realized what was happening (he had recognized that the airplane had Japanese markings). He went on to join the U.S. Army (he was Canadian) and they taught him Japanese. He spent the war monitoring the Purple code intercepts of the Japanese embassy in Moscow. His wife became a W.A.S.P. who was killed when the bomber she was flying crashed. My mother was Red Cross and spent the war mainly with the (as she always puts it - I’m sure I’m expressing it incorrectly) 4th Marines.

My great grandfather fled Denmark in 1864 when the Prussians advanced across his family farm; at age 12 he became a cabin boy.

My maternal grandfather was an engineer who patented lightning arrestors, the machines used to make Brillo soap pads and the deep freezer (which he sold to Westinghouse for $3000 - I think they made their money back) as well inventing Flakice, which is still, I believe, around. He was also at Dutch Harbor when the Japanese attacked.

Margaret Mead slept in my bed, as did John Bittner-Janisch (Mr. baboon-blood). And I knew Leslie White fairly well. My band opened for ZZ Top (years ago) and I just learned that my Mom is pals with Bill Gibbons’ mom. Actually, I’ve crossed paths with several prominent rock’n’rollers. And I managed to accidentally attend the hoo-ha surrounding the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago. And I did get to see the fire-hosing of the 1959 free love protestors on the steps of the UC Berkely campus library (that memory is sure to be mangled, as I was a mite then).

Let’s see, what else is in the attic. Somehow meetings with people who’ve made the news just doesn’t really seem to fit my perception of what the OP asks.

Not much else there…, just scrapings.

Oh, I did get to drive the Moon Rover (or whatever the heck it was called) simulator at Grumman in 1968 (thanks to granpappy). They had an imagined moonscape that, as you passed over a ridge, revealed (Disney character) Goofy standing there waving at you.

32

How could I have forgotten the fact that a friend and I wrapped George Bush’s (the dad) house during his 1970 Senate campaign (now that I think about it, it was probably Dub’s house as well).

33

I forgot one. Most people think that Agatha Christie was the first woman to write and publish a mystery novel featuring a female detective. Actually, my great-grandmother was the first, but it sold less than 300 copies. :frowning: Christie was slightly more successful.

34

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Terminus Est *
**

You might be in the right place, I think Washington could use a little People Power these days!

— G. Raven

35

Hrm. Nothing too spectacular here, but then I’m not that old yet.

Possibly the biggest brush was when I took a trip to Washington DC and New York for the Global Young Leaders Conference (if you’ve heard of it, awesome, if you haven’t, don’t worry about it :)) in 1999.

We got to meet Howard Schultz, then CEO of Starbucks. Nifty guy, and a big reason for my current interest in international business. Dunno if that really counts as history, but he did form one of the largest, globally renowned companies ever, so…

While I was attending the GYLC, I also fell in with a Maltese man whom I am convinced will be the future General Secretary of the United Nations. [sub]It’s pretty late as I’m writing this, so if I messed up the title for the head honcho of the UN, please forgive.[/sub] Not only was he one of the most charismatic and intelligent people I’ve ever had the fortune to run into, he was quite serious about his intentions to rise to that position. Just to record his name here, the guy’s name was Ian Hill. I can’t wait to see if I’m right. :slight_smile:

My parents used to tell me I was related to Mr. Neismith, the inventor of basketball. After a few years, though, they found out it was a false claim. Or something. I’m still rather vague on that point. :confused:

36

My friend’s grandfather was Stalin’s personal interpreter, and was complimented by Hitler on his excellent German.

My cousin’s mother-in-law survived Auschwitz because her fellow Communists in the camps ‘organised’ her a position working in Dr. Mengele’s office. Despite all she’d experienced, she retained her faith in the basic goodness of humanity; one of the most inspiring people I’ve ever met.

I witnessed the uprising in Moscow in October 1993, completely by accident. Girlfriend and I wanted to see a movie playing near the Russian White House, and arrived just in time to see soldiers fleeing the hordes of pensioners and lumpenproletariat that had ‘seized’ the White House and the Mayor’s office. We hung around for an hour or so, listening to speeches by the various deputies and keeping a low profile (the crowd was not exactly pro-Western), then decided to get out of there when they were gathering volunteers to attack the TV station.
Watched the shelling of the White House the next day on CNN, as I had no desire to join the idiots exposing themselves to sniper fire just to watch stuff go boom.

37

My grandfather had to go to Japan in WWII and help clean it up after the bomb dropped. Died of cancer in 1989, probably because of it.

A really really distant relative of mine “discovered” North America (Leif Erikson) and called it Vinland.

38

I knew the niece of the guy who invented Scrabble.

Yes, you may stop worshipping now. Really, all this adulation is too much.

39

My great-grandfather ran a bakery in Cleveland back in the thirties and forties, and he used to sell bread crumbs to another local businessman named Hector Boiardi. Canned-food aficionados will recognize Boiardi as the future “Chef Boy-Ar-Dee”. If family lore is to be believed, great-grandfather passed on an opportunity to become business partners with Boiardi. D’oh!

40

Geez, tell me about. I’m really pissed at US media because coverage of People Power 2 was completely overshadowed by the Florida recount. I’ve seen elections in the bleeping Third World go more smoothly than that mess.