The Little Boy Who Wasn’t Forgotten
Well, news that
we received from our next-door neighbor on that day back on 03 January 1959 was
that the baby, Bernard Keith Midkiff, had died. My mother, my father, my
sister, my brother, and I were grief stricken. This was the first time we had a
death in our immediate family. Bernard Keith died from SIDS, sudden infant
death syndrome. Our family made plans to go to Jean and attend the funeral for
the baby. Little Bernard Keith Midkiff was a beautiful baby. He looked like an
angel in his little tiny casket. Our family had the assurance this little angel
boy was in heaven. He was so peaceful and quiet lying in his eternal bed.
You may be
wondering now, “Why is she writing about a child who has been gone for so long?”
The reason I am writing is that I have thought of this precious baby so many
times over the years and wondered where he was buried. Remember now, I was only
sixteen years old when he died! Jean, his mom died 21 February 2012 and all
hope of getting this information from her is gone. Jean’s son, Dell, called to
tell me the plans for Jean’s memorial, where she will be laid to rest, and she
will be with Bernard Keith. I now have the name of a cemetery.
and do a search for Bernard Keith Midkiff. Walla! I
found him! I was happy now. This beautiful baby boy has been remembered and
someone had taken his or her time to take a picture of the cemetery and put
this information on Findagrave. This was a random genealogical act of kindness for
which I am grateful. I have the
information, and can now add this to Jean’s family tree. You see, I am a family
historian/genealogist and this is important information to have for future
generations. Jean’s grandchildren or great grandchildren possibly in the future
will research their families and this information will be important to them.
Random acts of genealogical kindness are what
volunteer genealogists do on a regular basis. The digitized records that are on websites such as https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Random_Acts_of_Genealogical_Kindness are done by volunteers. These volunteers have gone
into courthouses and made photocopies of records. One might think since these
records are readily available with the click of a mouse that they magically
appear on these websites. That is not the case. Someone somewhere has taken his
or her time to go and make photocopies of records. There are also volunteers
who index census records so those can be put on the internet. Again, someone
has taken his or her time to volunteer to do these random acts of kindness. This
is how family historians/genealogists are able to do the research. Let’s not take this service for granted. This
will be done only as long as we have volunteers to give of his or her time to
provide this service for us.
Little Bernard
Keith Midkiff will be remembered now. I have him in my family tree and when I
look at my family tree he will be there in his place with the family.
Bernard Keith
Midkiff
Birth: 23
December 1958
Texas, USA
Death: Jan. 13, 1959
Kountze, Hardin
County, Texas, USA
Son of Roy and
Jean (Eley) Midkiff
Burial: Resthaven
Cemetery
Silsbee, Hardin
County, Texas, USA
Cemetery notes and/or
description:
Directions:
Take US Hwy 96 North into Silsbee, Texas. Just before you reach the Silsbee
Post Office there is a traffic light. Turn right, at the traffic light, onto
Avenue R. At the end of Ave R (cemetery will be straight ahead) turn right and
the entrance to the cemetery will be on the left.
Find A Grave Memorial# 36412502
Record added:
Apr 26, 2009
Note: Another way to get to Bernad Keith Midkiff's Finadgrave.com webpage is to do a Google search by putting in Bernard Keith Midkiff Findagrave in the search box. Then click on search. The site will come up in the search results and by clicking on that search results it will take you to the website.
