Henry Elmore Peters, My Grandpa

Barry and I went to the memorial service on April 16 in memory of the Texas City Explosion that happened fifty-seven years ago in 1947. Over 600 people died that day including the entire fire department. As a memorial to the firefighters, Chief Gerald Grimm of the Texas City Fire Department read each of their names followed by the ringing of a bell. The speaker was Mrs. Ernestine Moreno, a survivor. After listening to her sad story, I wondered if she had known my grandfather whom I never had the privledge of meeting. He used to preach at the Spanish Mission near her home. So when the ceremony was over, I asked her if she knew him. She immediately smiled and began telling me how much she adored him. He taught her spanish in high school. She said he spoke beautiful spanish. He asked her why she was not taking notes and she told him because he was blocking the words with his body. So he started writing with his other hand so she could see the board. When she finished talking about him, she gave me a big unexpected hug and reiterated how much my grandpa meant to her. I wanted to grab all the other old people there and ask them all if they remembered Grandpa Peters. When I got home, I looked at myself in the upstairs mirror and noticed I was wearing Mom's shirt. I wanted to tell her all about my experience at the memorial service, and how I found yet another person who loved her father. I began to weep at the realization of my loss.