Yep, this is our Dad, age-16, just married our Mother, age-18

He didn’t have an easy life, growing up on a farm, the youngest of five. His mother: Florence E Mumma Hess (Her parents: George Mumma & Mary Mayo Botts) and his father: Curtis George Hess who died in 1950). It was the Mumma name that led us to believe that perhaps we had some Native American in our blood line. Not true. His siblings, in order: Stanley, Dale, Mazie, & Linwood. Growing up poor on the farm yielded a “Can Do” mindset along with the around-the-house-skills necessary to get by on a small income. You fix your own plumbing, heating, electrical, carpentry, and everything else. If you are lucky enough to be able to farm (in this case, land owned by another), you get to grow your own food. Who needs money?

Unfortunately, he also had a congenital kidney problem that medical science had not yet discovered a treatment. He had one bad kidney removed before moving to Cape May. In 1950, dialysis didn’t exist, and specialists could only bypass the remaining kidney for a few days, then un‑bypass it and hope it restarted on its own. By the time Rick arrived in April 1950 and Linda in November 1952, Dad’s doctors were out of ideas. Their advice — move to “the shore,” where ocean air was thought to be therapeutic — was half science, half superstition, but it was the best they had.

And that’s how the family ended up in Cape May, New Jersey — Exit 0 on the Garden State Parkway, as far south as you can go, steps from the Atlantic Ocean and still only five hours from Williamsport. In late 1954 he traveled to Cape May to land a job and an apartment/house. He was hired as a produce manager for the new Acme on Washington Street. He also found an apartment on Washington St, about 5-blocks from work. 1048 was the address, and if you look it up today, it is the rebuild Carriage House of the Physick Estate. Very little insulation (one night I went for a bath, and someone left their water which had frozen), but on the huge estate grounds where the main house had been abandoned for many years. We had a blast exploring and debating whether we should try to break in for a look around.

Cape May was a GREAT place to grow up. At 8-years, I could walk from our house to Dad’s job at night, no worries. The Cape May First Methodist Church was midway between house and job, so mom and dad sent us to Sunday School there. I don’t recall them attending regularly. School was a short walk too, so was the beach. I’ll talk about Cape May more on other pages.

It seems that the Acme was paying just enough to get by. Mom used to say “Just when I saved a few pennies enough to buy a new dress, one of you kids needed new shoes. I can only imagine. So, I remember him always hustling in a second (or third) job. Just a fact of life. It was no big surprise to me when he just walked out in early 1961 when Karl was still a baby. He knew he had only a few years yet to live, and for many years I “forgave” him on the grounds of having had a tough life and was going to die young. Much later, I’m more of the opinion “You brought your children into this world along with a beautiful young woman, so you don’t get to just walk away.” Not that my opinion matters.

In early 1966, I was visiting Lycoming College, courtesy of his sister my Aunt Mazie who drove me to/from. I was getting enough grants & scholarships to enroll, but not enough to cover room/board, so I intended to live with her. After driving me home, she returned to her house in Williamsport where the police told her that they believed it was her brother who checked himself into Williamsport Hospital under the alias of Jess Hanson. He was in the final stages of renal failure and the hospital offered no hope.

Our entire family subsequently drove to see him off, and he died quickly on 18Feb1966 and is buried on his family plot.