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Volume 13, Issue 3 - Feature #5881

Kenneth Dwight Pittman Bio

The granddaughter that Mr. Pittman spoke of, Michelle Rene Graves, his daughter Sharon's daughter... is my niece. She is actually about 3 weeks older than me. Her father (my brother) RayJ Graves passed on when she and I were 2 years old. Sharon moved her & Michelle up from Redondo to San Leandro short after my brother passed and so our contact with her was about extinct. My father went and saw her from a distance when she was 15, across in a parking lot in San Leandro, I do not know that she ever knew he was there. She had contacted us, to our suprise out of the blue short after we moved from Santa Ana up to Salem,Oregon, she was about 13 and said she had tracked us down thru a school computer. We were So happy to have heard from her, and she expressed how much she missed and loved us, and thought about us All the time, same as we had Always felt about her. My father took ill in 2006, and while on his death bed, my 1/2 brother told our father and I that he Still was in frequent contact with Michelle at that time, and that she had actually moved up to Oregon to be nearer to us, but, that she didn't want contact with us. He said she had married and had 2 daughters, was working and doing real good. He went on and on, with quite the elaberate story, even going so far to say that her mother was struggling with..., well, the bottom line was it was All a lie just to hurt me and my father. I continued to Beg my brother for contact to her as my father lay dying while he kept Insisting she knew but Still did Not want to have any contact with dad & I. Michelle had been deceased for 15 Years... we had no Clue, I didn't learn this until After my father had passed, when I went through his things and found an address & phone number to a "Kenneth Pittman" in San Leandro, California. I KNEW, as soon as I saw the paper, it was my Only link to finding Michelle. The contact info was still good, and I reached Mr. Pittman by phone, and learned the horrific news. A short while later, I decided to make a trip down to San Leandro to meet Mr. Pittman. Though I was unexpected, he was very nice and invited mother and I in for a visit. He told me of the years we'd missed of her life, but unfortunately, he didn't have Any pictures of Michelle to see, all boxed away he said, the pictures of she and Sharon, even his wife- all the loved ones who'd passed... I understood, though still I wonder what she looked like all grown up, I hadn't seen her since we were 5, and to that point, we had been very close, until she moved up north and her mother had began to move on. Sharon was never married to my brother. Though I had tried over the years to find them, I was never given a clue where to look other than in Redondo. Sharon had gotten with another man as time went by, I don't know if they ever married or not, but they had a son together, the only one of her kids left. Mr. Pittman was Very Proud of his grandson, Sharon's boy. He said he was working for the city and he had him living with him, and that he wanted Him to inherit his house when the time comes, which is always a sad thing to hear someone talk about. He said Sharon's sister was doing well, travelling actually up in Oregon while I was down there from Oregon. He said he was going to encourage her to contact me, but I haven't yet heard from anyone since my visit.I am going to try to call him tomorrow... I Hope he answers the phone and is fine, though he didn't seem very well when I was there. I would sure like to reconnect with them so I could Learn abut my niece and her life, the Truth... maybe even see a picture of her grown up, it would sure fill a Huge void in my heart, and the multitudes of quetions about all the things I'd missed in her life. She was married Mr. Pittman told me, short before the accident, to a military man who had been stationed up in Alaska, last name "Price". I have not been able to find any sort of news regarding the accident, her death, or a memorial site though have searched perfusely since learning of it. We were 18 when she was ejected out of the sunroof from the back seat of that car... at 19 I was diagnosed "terminally ill" and told I would not live to see 20. Sharon never recovered from losing Michelle Mr. Pittman said, which drastically reduced her life force. I remember Sharon, I remember her and my brother happy together, and I remember her crying and Apologizing to me as we arranged flowers for his funeral that day. I wish I could have held them throughout those years, and told them it could have been ok. My father had disowned his son, my 1/2 brother long Before he told us all these lyes. But saying all that he did reduced my father to tears, time and again before he died, so hurt he actually had become Angry at her, saying her not wanting contact with us was just fine. I know that it put my father in shock, to see his only grandson and too her standing there as he approached those pearly gates, we had found out in 2001 that my only nephew George had been killed in an accident on I-5 just a year before when he was 20. Devistating as that was, my dad always sought comfort in knowing that "at least Michelle's out there... somewhere", and as it turned out, she was already up there before even him. The only thing that keeps me from losing my mind over all this, or going after that 1/2 brother, is knowing that they're all in heaven together now, pain free, happy, and never will e parted again, and that in time I will get to join them, but I would Still like to see, and learn what I can about her, I just don't know what to do or how to go about it. Maybe somehow through here? Here is my contact information just in case: Reverend Joy M. Graves (714)-421-6060 is my cell phone, my email is: joy.m.graves@gmail.com ; I have 2 mailing addresses in Oregon, one is: 1065 Glenview Way NW Salem, Or 970304 , and the other is 1630 N. Curtin Road Cottage Grove, Or 97424. If Anyone knows or is willing to Share ANYTHING about my niece, I would so much appreciate it! Sorry if I've seemed to "carry on", I tend to do that, especially about things that mean so very much to me, I hope I cause no upset, I've just been trying for so long to find any possible thread to her, and so when I just now found This... my emotions are overwhelmingly flowing. So many questions she will never get to tell me, her favorite music, color, just so much... lost to me for so Long about her, I don't even know what she looked like after 5 years old! She and George Crush my heart so much... so so very much. I want to be with them so bad, specially knowing they're all together. I still have learning to do though, finding this story, this possible "link", gives me a shredded light of Hope! Thank you So Much for putting up this post! I pray that it does not end here. God Bless you ALL! I look forward to finding more. Be well all. Oh, and P.S., my mothers father come from Okie too - amazing and small world! Bountiful blessings and well wishes everyone, you're doing good things! God Bless

Reverend Joy Maxine Graves - 2011-10-19 04:39:20

If you would like to contact me at vglover776@comcast.net I can give you Ida belle's e-mail as well as Kennth's address and phone #

- 2011-03-30 03:56:57

Glad you found us at OkieLegacy and this particular article. If someone wanted to get in touch with you who would they be able to contact through email, or snail mail?

Linda McGill Wagner - 2011-03-26 16:55:35

glad i read this artcul .its alike to some of my family that i never knew about .iam one of dean shafers kids and my grand father was ray shafer.

- 2011-03-26 15:59:18

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