Filling in the Blanks

by Anita Palmer

Virgil Shoemaker had always wondered about the father he never knew. But at 91, the longtime Nazarene and supporter of Point Loma Nazarene University (PLNU), in San Diego, Calif., felt it surely was too late to hope for information he had longed for all his life, knowledge that would fill painful blanks in his history. Not in the age of the Internet.

His son, Norm Shoemaker, went on-line. Virgil Shoemaker's father, Arthur Enoch Shoemaker, had disappeared from Virgil's life when his marriage to Virgil's mother, Beulah, broke up at the end of World War I. Virgil was raised by a loving aunt and uncle in Michigan before moving to California to finish high school at Pasadena Academy. Norm realized that his grandfather, Arthur, could have remarried and had children. Then perhaps Virgil had half-siblings. Perhaps they could tell Virgil what Arthur had had been like.

Norm Shoemaker checked various genealogical websites where he found a great deal of information about his ancestors, but nothing about Arthur Enoch Shoemaker or his offspring. Then, one night Norm typed his grandfather's name into a search engine. It brought up one listing-an unofficial Michigan marriage record between a woman named Lelah and Arthur Shoemaker. Two hours later Norm had traced clues through Colorado to Oregon to discover something that would reshape his father's sense of himself.

After remarriage, Arthur Shoemaker and his new wife had headed West. Virgil had two half-brothers and two half-sisters who were still alive. Norm woke his father up that night with a late phone call. Virgil was astonished, excited, and nervous.

The next morning Norm phoned Duane "Buzz" Shoemaker of Gold Hill, Oregon, and asked if he had heard of the name Virgil Shoemaker. Buzz, aged 82, was speechless. His father had often talked about the son he had left behind. Buzz and his siblings had searched for their half-brother all of their lives.

Within a month Virgil Shoemaker was traveling to Oregon to meet Buzz, another brother named Arthur, and sisters Virginia and Betty-and to learn about the father he never knew. Norm says one of the most touching moments was seeing Virgil and Buzz standing shoulder to shoulder at their father's grave. "It was tremendous, just tremendous" said Virgil. His handsome face breaks into a grin whenever he talks of the discovery.

Anita Palmer is a freelance writer and editor in the San Diego, California.

 

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