I am convinced that there are angels who walk the Earth totally unnoticed by most people and if it weren't for the testimony of those of us who were touched by them and their goodness, they would be completely unrecognized. This was my beloved Uncle Rex.
Uncle Rex was born Robert Erecine McVean on March 8, 1888 in Gouyave, Grenada, an island in the Caribbean. Born into a poor but honest, hard working family, he soon signed on with the ICC to go work on the building of the Panama Canal. He lied about his age being a minor of fourteen years and said he was eighteen just to be accepted but, this was something many young men did in those days just to get work. He joined his sister, Mary, also from Gouyave, and lived in Panama and labored like a grown man until his seventeenth birthday. He then decided that he would go try his luck in the United States and wait for his eighteenth birthday.
Now of legal age, he signed on with the U.S. Army and eventually became a mechanic, serving his duty during WWI. Upon completing his time in the Army he discharged honorably at a very critical time in the United States- The Great Depression. Those desperate days of economic want for many people proved doubly difficult for Uncle Rex as he could not find sustaining work in an already tight job market.
A niece began sending him small sums of money, $5 or $10 every two weeks and whenever she could to help him through this rough period. He never forgot these kindnesses to him and when he finally became employed again, he would send his beloved sister Mary McVean back in Panama, $5 to $10 a week without fail for years, to get her through the very difficult times The Silver People were experiencing during the late 1930's and ‘40's.
He visited my grandmother, Mary, whenever he could coming in by ship through LaBoca harbor. This is how I got to know my Uncle Rex. As a mere baby I would look out of my window in our house in La Boca, Canal Zone, and point to the passing ships and shout "Uncle Rex!"
Finally, a couple of years before the death of my grandmother, who raised me and was my greatest guide, she handed me a small slip of paper. On it was written the full name and address of my Uncle Rex who lived in Harlem, New York at the time. She instructed me that upon her death I was to write him and he would fulfill his promise to her to take care of me and see to it that I went to the United States to seek a better life.
Uncle Rex kept his promise faithfully to her as he had done with sending money and he asked a close friend to help sponsor me up to the United States with all my papers in order. I was seventeen at the time.
Through his loving kindness and many efforts I went to live in the U.S., obtained employment and entered into marriage with a very loving man whom I am still married to today. God bless you Uncle Rex for showing your love and faithfulness through your actions and helping so many people, including me, in your quiet, gentle but upright way.
This bio was written by Mrs. Diana Henry, his grand niece who will always consider him her "real" father.
Uncle Rex was born Robert Erecine McVean on March 8, 1888 in Gouyave, Grenada, an island in the Caribbean. Born into a poor but honest, hard working family, he soon signed on with the ICC to go work on the building of the Panama Canal. He lied about his age being a minor of fourteen years and said he was eighteen just to be accepted but, this was something many young men did in those days just to get work. He joined his sister, Mary, also from Gouyave, and lived in Panama and labored like a grown man until his seventeenth birthday. He then decided that he would go try his luck in the United States and wait for his eighteenth birthday.
Now of legal age, he signed on with the U.S. Army and eventually became a mechanic, serving his duty during WWI. Upon completing his time in the Army he discharged honorably at a very critical time in the United States- The Great Depression. Those desperate days of economic want for many people proved doubly difficult for Uncle Rex as he could not find sustaining work in an already tight job market.
A niece began sending him small sums of money, $5 or $10 every two weeks and whenever she could to help him through this rough period. He never forgot these kindnesses to him and when he finally became employed again, he would send his beloved sister Mary McVean back in Panama, $5 to $10 a week without fail for years, to get her through the very difficult times The Silver People were experiencing during the late 1930's and ‘40's.
He visited my grandmother, Mary, whenever he could coming in by ship through LaBoca harbor. This is how I got to know my Uncle Rex. As a mere baby I would look out of my window in our house in La Boca, Canal Zone, and point to the passing ships and shout "Uncle Rex!"
Finally, a couple of years before the death of my grandmother, who raised me and was my greatest guide, she handed me a small slip of paper. On it was written the full name and address of my Uncle Rex who lived in Harlem, New York at the time. She instructed me that upon her death I was to write him and he would fulfill his promise to her to take care of me and see to it that I went to the United States to seek a better life.
Uncle Rex kept his promise faithfully to her as he had done with sending money and he asked a close friend to help sponsor me up to the United States with all my papers in order. I was seventeen at the time.
Through his loving kindness and many efforts I went to live in the U.S., obtained employment and entered into marriage with a very loving man whom I am still married to today. God bless you Uncle Rex for showing your love and faithfulness through your actions and helping so many people, including me, in your quiet, gentle but upright way.
This bio was written by Mrs. Diana Henry, his grand niece who will always consider him her "real" father.
I am convinced that there are angels who walk the Earth totally unnoticed by most people and if it weren't for the testimony of those of us who were touched by them and their goodness, they would be completely unrecognized. This was my beloved Uncle Rex.
Uncle Rex was born Robert Erecine McVean on March 8, 1888 in Gouyave, Grenada, an island in the Caribbean. Born into a poor but honest, hard working family, he soon signed on with the ICC to go work on the building of the Panama Canal. He lied about his age being a minor of fourteen years and said he was eighteen just to be accepted but, this was something many young men did in those days just to get work. He joined his sister, Mary, also from Gouyave, and lived in Panama and labored like a grown man until his seventeenth birthday. He then decided that he would go try his luck in the United States and wait for his eighteenth birthday.
Now of legal age, he signed on with the U.S. Army and eventually became a mechanic, serving his duty during WWI. Upon completing his time in the Army he discharged honorably at a very critical time in the United States- The Great Depression. Those desperate days of economic want for many people proved doubly difficult for Uncle Rex as he could not find sustaining work in an already tight job market.
A niece began sending him small sums of money, $5 or $10 every two weeks and whenever she could to help him through this rough period. He never forgot these kindnesses to him and when he finally became employed again, he would send his beloved sister Mary McVean back in Panama, $5 to $10 a week without fail for years, to get her through the very difficult times The Silver People were experiencing during the late 1930's and ‘40's.
He visited my grandmother, Mary, whenever he could coming in by ship through LaBoca harbor. This is how I got to know my Uncle Rex. As a mere baby I would look out of my window in our house in La Boca, Canal Zone, and point to the passing ships and shout "Uncle Rex!"
Finally, a couple of years before the death of my grandmother, who raised me and was my greatest guide, she handed me a small slip of paper. On it was written the full name and address of my Uncle Rex who lived in Harlem, New York at the time. She instructed me that upon her death I was to write him and he would fulfill his promise to her to take care of me and see to it that I went to the United States to seek a better life.
Uncle Rex kept his promise faithfully to her as he had done with sending money and he asked a close friend to help sponsor me up to the United States with all my papers in order. I was seventeen at the time.
Through his loving kindness and many efforts I went to live in the U.S., obtained employment and entered into marriage with a very loving man whom I am still married to today. God bless you Uncle Rex for showing your love and faithfulness through your actions and helping so many people, including me, in your quiet, gentle but upright way.
This bio was written by Mrs. Diana Henry, his grand niece who will always consider him her "real" father.
Uncle Rex was born Robert Erecine McVean on March 8, 1888 in Gouyave, Grenada, an island in the Caribbean. Born into a poor but honest, hard working family, he soon signed on with the ICC to go work on the building of the Panama Canal. He lied about his age being a minor of fourteen years and said he was eighteen just to be accepted but, this was something many young men did in those days just to get work. He joined his sister, Mary, also from Gouyave, and lived in Panama and labored like a grown man until his seventeenth birthday. He then decided that he would go try his luck in the United States and wait for his eighteenth birthday.
Now of legal age, he signed on with the U.S. Army and eventually became a mechanic, serving his duty during WWI. Upon completing his time in the Army he discharged honorably at a very critical time in the United States- The Great Depression. Those desperate days of economic want for many people proved doubly difficult for Uncle Rex as he could not find sustaining work in an already tight job market.
A niece began sending him small sums of money, $5 or $10 every two weeks and whenever she could to help him through this rough period. He never forgot these kindnesses to him and when he finally became employed again, he would send his beloved sister Mary McVean back in Panama, $5 to $10 a week without fail for years, to get her through the very difficult times The Silver People were experiencing during the late 1930's and ‘40's.
He visited my grandmother, Mary, whenever he could coming in by ship through LaBoca harbor. This is how I got to know my Uncle Rex. As a mere baby I would look out of my window in our house in La Boca, Canal Zone, and point to the passing ships and shout "Uncle Rex!"
Finally, a couple of years before the death of my grandmother, who raised me and was my greatest guide, she handed me a small slip of paper. On it was written the full name and address of my Uncle Rex who lived in Harlem, New York at the time. She instructed me that upon her death I was to write him and he would fulfill his promise to her to take care of me and see to it that I went to the United States to seek a better life.
Uncle Rex kept his promise faithfully to her as he had done with sending money and he asked a close friend to help sponsor me up to the United States with all my papers in order. I was seventeen at the time.
Through his loving kindness and many efforts I went to live in the U.S., obtained employment and entered into marriage with a very loving man whom I am still married to today. God bless you Uncle Rex for showing your love and faithfulness through your actions and helping so many people, including me, in your quiet, gentle but upright way.
This bio was written by Mrs. Diana Henry, his grand niece who will always consider him her "real" father.
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