Hallers

My Grandfather, John Michael Haller, died in 1940. He was 80 years old and had lived in Frederick, Md his whole life, running his popular “Dry Goods” store there. On our last visit 20 years ago, we could still make out the advertising for his store, and the corsets they sold, on the side of a crumbling old red barn.

Haller ancestors had been among the first group of German settlers who founded the town in 1745.

The family story is that on the Sunday he died, he put on a suit and went out to see a movie. When he came back home, he walked upstairs, turned on the light switch, and dropped dead.

A great way to go.

He’s buried in the Mt. Olivet Cemetery there next to his wife, my Grandmother, Jennie Haller. She was only 31 when she died in 1906 of complications that resulted from the birth of my father. Prior to marrying, she had been on the faculty of the “Women’s College” in Washington, D.C. as a teacher of elocution (The study of formal speaking in pronunciation, grammar, style, and tone.)

So, my father, Hugh Kenneth Haller, grew up with no mother but had “three maiden Aunts” to keep him in line.

Dad died in 1994, age 79. A Johns Hopkins Phi Beta Kapa and Harvard trained attorney, Dad had his own successful law practice in Manhattan for many years. In retirement, he helped to incorporate the city of Pine Knoll Shores, NC, becoming its first Mayor and hiring the police and Fire departments.

Dad was crazy about Mom, his little dogs, crossword puzzles and Lawrence Welk. Kids were down the line somewhere. No sports in our house, we never threw a ball back and forth. Grades were everything to him and I never tried to compete. Dad just didn’t know what to do with kids. We finally connected when I grew up to his level and we shared bad limericks. That did the trick.

Now I’m 71 myself and when I look in the mirror, I see these guys. I never knew Father Haller and only got close with my own father in the last 20 years of his life.

If everything really does happen for a reason, I like to think that I’ve been close with my own daughters from the start. I don’t carry the academic credentials my father had, but I’ve definitely got the Dad credentials, and I’m more than OK with that.