I’ve Got a Secret
It is amazing what you can find on the Internet. My cousin Yvonne brought this to the attention of my brother Stephen, and I thought I would share this with you.
Can you guess the secret?
This is my uncle Wilbur, may he rest in peace. The young man you see at the end, who looks exactly like my second son, is my father.
In my biography tagline that is printed in some books or at the heading of some interviews, after the mention of my legal background and education, it says I named my two oldest boys Orville and Wilbur. Now, I assume most readers who do not know me assume that this is a joke I played on my kids, giving them odd names so that they would be picked on in school and grow up tough.
No, as my father says briefly here, he was named for his father, and my son is named for him. It is a tradition. My grandfather was named Orville, and he was born in 1903, but some months before the famed first heavier-than-aircraft flight. His father was named John C. Wright, for whom I was named.
My second son was named in honor of my late Uncle Wilbur, that his name not perish from the earth.
I never met my Uncle. He died in a training accident when I was a very small boy. I have never seen any pictures of him before. I did not know what he looked like. Now I do.
My cousin Yvonne had never heard her father’s voice before. Now she has.
Thank you, Internet.
About John C Wright
John C. Wright is a practicing philosopher, a retired attorney, newspaperman, and newspaper editor, and a published author of science fiction. Once a Houyhnhnm, he was expelled from the august ranks of purely rational beings when he fell in love; but retains an honorary title.
