20 Years Ago - The Passing of Robert T Miars (1915-1999)

Today it has been twenty years since my grandfather, Robert T Miars passed away.  The anniversary comes up each year just before Thanksgiving and it takes me back to the months and weeks before he passed.  It takes me back to the visits and conversations I had with him during that time.  I remember the last time I saw him, just a few days before he died. I remember lots of things about that time but that is really not how I want o remember him now.

I would like to remember him when he was young and growing up.  When he was was healthy and happy and life was just beginning for him. Before he had a wife, children and a business to run.  Back to the days when he was just a kid.

Here is one of the earliest pictures of him that I have seen.  It is probably from about 1918 when he was two or three years old.  But where was it taken?  My grandfather was born on 5 Jun 1915 in Elm Grove Township, Tazewell County, Illinois. [1]  He was the youngest of nine children born to Frank and Katie (Saltonstall) Miars.  The farm he was born on had been in his family just a few years less than 100.  Is that where this picture was taken?

Robert T Miars, ca. 1918, location unknown.

Robert was not to live in Elm Grove for long.  Although all of his older siblings had been born and raised there, life was changing for his parents.  The Miars homestead was being sold just a few years after Grandpa was born and the whole family moved to a new farm in Jubilee Township, Peoria County, Illinois.  The big moved happened around 1917 or 1918.  Maybe this picture of him was taken at the new place.

Robert T Miars, about 1920, location unknown.

Here is another photo from his younger years.  This is probably from about 1920 and most likely was taken in Jubilee Township, Peoria County, Illinois.  Maybe it was for first day of school?  Whatever the occasion was he is dressed up and ready to go.  The property that his parents owned is now part of the Jubilee State Park.  I need to do more research to figure just which area of the park belonged to my great grandparents.

Robert T Miars school photo, ca. 1925.  He is at the far right on second row.

Grandpa would have attended the local school in Jubilee.  This class photo has him standing at the right end of the second row and next to his lifelong friend, Tom Flynn.  I need to go through his high school yearbook to see if I can identify any others from this photo.  Many of them would have gone to high school with Grandpa.  I am not for sure where this school was located.  It may have been the school that used to stand at what is now the entrance to the Park off of Route 150 (down the hill from the old dairy and rock garden).  More research needed on this point also.  He likely was the only one from his family that was in this school.  His next older brother Albert "Dutch" would have been high school age by the time this photo was likely taken around 1925.

Robert T Miars, senior class photo, Brimfield High School class of 1933

Finally, this is one of my favorite pictures of him from throughout his life.  It is his senior class picture and was likely taken in 1933 or 1932.  By now though, life is getting serious for Grandpa.  His father (Frank) died in 1932 the year before Grandpa's high school graduation from Brimfield High school. [2]  The farm in Jubilee is sold and he and his mother move into town.  Now he knows he needs to get a job.

But somewhere in this photo of him I see in his eyes the young man that is just starting out in life.  He seems to be looking forward to what life has to bring and to the family that he would be raising in Brimfield.  In this photo, all of that is yet to come.

So for today, this is how I will remember my Grandpa....twenty years after he passed.

Related Blog Posts -
Clara (Miars) Barker - 123rd Birthday
Mary (Miars) Best
Pearl (Walkington) Miars
Robert Miars and Bessie Purcell
Lulu Eicher - A Teacher's Teacher

Bibliography -
[1] Tazewell, Illinois, amended birth certificate, local file no. unknown, 1915 (issued 24 Sep 1940), Robert Thomas Miars, formerly "Miars"; Tazewell County Clerk, Pekin.
[2] Peoria County, Illinois, death certificate no. 14669  (3 Feb 1932), Frank Miars, Peoria County Clerk, Peoria.