Can we find anything in our present memories that links us back to the life of our great grandfather George Sechler, who died at age 33 in 1907 in the line of duty as a New York City police officer? This is no easy task–his wife, Laura, apparently spoke very little about her husband to her grandchildren as they were growing up. We can recall that our grandmother, only 7 weeks old when her father died, made occasional references to growing up without a father, but there were never any details.
We only have the one image of George, the circa 1905 sketch, the source of which remains unknown. Photography remained rare in 1907–not even pictures of fallen police officers made it into the newspapers, if any photos of George even existed at the time.
But if we look closely at the images we have, comparing daughter Ruth with her parents, I believe there is a clear resemblance to her father.
In particular, the square shape of Ruth’s face seems to come straight from her father, not apparent in the face of her mother. After seeing this, for me, the overall father/daughter resemblance becomes difficult not to see. George is there, in the grandmother we knew (and perhaps also in the face of our mother, who bears some resemblance to her mother).
As for Laura’s influence, it is perhaps most apparent in her granddaughter, our aunt, Joan.
Bridging the Silences 