Frances and Gustav Tytke
Patriarchs of the Pittsburgh
Tytke Family |
Legends and Lore
We awake on Independence Day. My cousins Michael "Eggs" Benedict and Vicki offer me a ride north to Lake Charlevoix. I accept, as I don't have any qualms about shaving off some mileage through the Michigan fen and lumber country. After biding farewell to Uncle Charlie and Aunt Dottie we leave Grand Rapids.
Along the way Vicki tells me some of our Tyke family history. The Tykes, once known as the "Tytkes" come from Prussia. Two brothers came to America, one settling in Pittsburgh and the other in Texas. The Pittsburgh Tytkes became steel mill workers for the Mesta, Laughlin, and Pittsburgh Steel companies.
Our grandfather Charles Tyke, having enough with factory work became a Coca Cola salesman and this move allowed the family to break into the middle class.
He then moved his family to New York where he secured a regional sales manager position for Gold Seal Vineyards and Maxim's of Paris (a fine wine and champagne company). Vicki's father, my uncle Charlie Tyke, went to Carnegie Tech and became a Master of Fine Arts in Industrial Design. After college and service in the Air Force during the Korean War, he went on to found Little Tyke Toys and recently a major sign making company.
As we talk about the toy maker turned sign designer we cross the 45th parallel.
The End of Something
in Horton Bay
As we drive north, Vicki mentions that we are going to pass near a town called Horton Bay which is really pretty and Hemingway used to hangout there, and they even have a--Did she say Hemingway? Yes, they have a little bookshop and general store where he went when he fished in Lake Charlevoix. My cousins indulge my pilgrim needs to visit the land of my forefathers. We visit the Red Fox Inn where Ernie used to stay when he went fishing in Horton Bay.
The End of Something |
Then down to a public boat landing where we could see a finger of land poking into the bay and where the Nick Adams story "The End of Something" took place.
Horton Bay General Store
frequented by Hemingway
in his early years |
For this is an amazing occasion because I remember reading and studying these stories in Professor Barnes's seminar on Hemingway last Fall. Walking in a place written about In Our Times that were once abstract discussion items in a dark Wren Building classroom fills me with a nostalgic yet joyful sense of connection.
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| The Red Fox Inn and Main Street in Horton Bay |
Charlevoix Heaventree of Night Fire
We visit friends of the family as the night ignites in celebration of Independence Day. From our lakeside view, heaventrees sprout high from moon glimmer upon the lake and nightglow of Boyne City. Yellow lion's manes bloom in a sparkling instant. Blue star bursts, micro-novas of light and smoke spiral climb into the Charlevoix night, screaming for the freedom of the boundless sky. An umbrella of star clusters, first red, then white, and then blue crack open the dark night, illuminating the lake town crowd with streams of glory.
