Ki Schmucker Past, Kai Schmucker Present

 

Me and Dad - Around 1989

February is a short month, but I always spend a lot of time thinking about my dad, “Ki” Schmucker.  In February of 1990, dad had moved into my home to live out his final days as liver cancer consumed his body.  It was to be the last, and possibly the best days that we would be together and he passed with me beside him on Febraury 23rd of 1990.

Ki was a nickname that he was given by the neighborhood kids back when he was young.  It was a shortened version of Kaiser, as in German Emperor Kaiser Wilhelm II, the last German Emperor and King of Prussia from 1888 until his abdication in 1918.  As dad never did like his given name (Clarence), he gladly accepted the name Ki as an improvement.  I don’t think he quite realized who or what his namesake was.

When World War II came around, Dad enlisted in the Army - Air Corps and was shipped off to Europe to fight the Nazi’s.  He hated the Nazi’s with the passion of one who had seen the blood and destruction of Europe.  After only 6 years, he separated from the Army as a Master Sergeant - quite a jump from a buck private enlistee. The Army offered him a chance to become a commissioned officer, but he turned it down because he had much more power as a senior non-commissioned officer. He saw a lot more than he ever let on and tried to drown those memories in Scotch, as did many others of the Greatest Generation.

As the youngest of two kids, and the only boy, I realized early on that my sister Dorothy was the apple of his eye. That’s not to say I was neglected, I just knew my place in life.  He played catch with me, took me to ball games, taught me how to fish and instilled strong values in me that I still hold and have passed on to my kids.  As I grew older, I learned that despite his blue-collar upbringing and being a career mail carrier, he was held in high esteem by many.  He was a Democratic committee member in Will County and state officials at the highest level all knew him on a first name basis. He was pretty good at getting out the vote.

Dad was a pretty good poker player, which is to say he played a big-money private game every Friday night and, on most Friday’s, he came out ahead.  He also knew his way around a horse track and was known to book a bet or two. His winnings funded a 6 figure bank account that my mother didn’t know about. It was supposed to be a nest egg for my sister and me. When she went into a nursing home, the State of Illinois found it and drained it.  Dad was extremely pissed about that. I told him that while I was grateful for his efforts, we’d be fine without it, and we have been.

Dad passed away on February 23rd of 1990.  I was just 33 years old.  My son Chris was born just 11 months later.  A few weeks ago, Chris and his wife Kaleigh gave birth to a son.  They named him Kai, which is pronounced “Ki”, which is quite an honor and a tribute to my dad and I’m still processing that.  As young Kai grows, I hope to share a lot of stories about his granddad, the original Ki Schmucker.  It’s the cycle of life, which I’m hoping that I get to enjoy for a long time.

Me and Little Kai Schmucker - January 2025

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