I hope you have never had the experience of pulling up to a familiar place, your home, your work, or a friends house, and seeing the immediate signs that something wrong has happened. There is nothing worse then that sinking feeling. In October, 1937, Babu writes:
Monday, October 18th, 1937
This morning Jaime gave me a ride and we remarked about the motorcycle standing in front of my office. I found, when I got upstairs, that Milton Adams, our colored janitor, while cleaning the windows, had lost his balance and fell down 4 stories to the pavement. He died at 10 am. Cooking school and after Johnny Lech, Frankie, and two other boys and us girls went riding. Played football on a golf green.
That is terrible. How sudden…how easy…
There was no reversal.
I hate that Babu sounds so calloused in this passage but I know that is how she records. And she doesn’t emote, but rarely. I feel that just in the way I am honoring his memory and life, so was Babu when she recorded his name and demise.
It just doesn’t seem fair.
Milton Warren Adams was born in Columbia, South Carolina, one of eleven children of Jessie and Lydia (Simons) Adams. He plunged to his death from the 4th floor of the Pirnie building, at 1252 Main Street, in Springfield, Massachusetts when he was just 35 years old. He was the head custodian of the building and was washing windows when he fell.
Milton came to Springfield when he was about 16 years old, working various jobs, including hotel waiter, porter, and elevator operator. In 1923 he married Dorothy Spencer and the couple settled at 13 Beacon Street. Upon his death, Milton left his wife to raise their two young daughters, Phyllis (10) and Carrie (3.)
Milton is buried in the Oak Grove Cemetery in Springfield.
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Holy Moley! Are you able to find out about thins information through an ancestry.com subscription or something like it?
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Also, thank you so much for finding out this information!
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