the rescued photo

This image was found in a basket of photos in a shop in Fort Wayne, Indiana.  I have quite a few photos of myself, as a child, visiting my mother’s grave, which is why I’m drawn to photographs of others partaking in the same ritual.

The visitors of Henry A. Seitz’s resting place, at Lindenwood cemetery, in Fort Wayne,  are the widow, Della (Barker) Seitz, and their son, 14-year-old, Wilson Henry Seitz. The date of this particular visit was May 31, 1938.  Henry died in 1937.

Wilson never married.  He served in the military during World War II, enlisting in January 1943.  Upon being discharged, he returned to Fort Wayne, where he resided with his mother, at 2401 Kenwood, and worked at various jobs throughout the years, including a plumber, a helper at Ft. Wayne Structural Steel, and a delivery driver.

Tragically, Wilson took his own life, on December 8, 1965.  He was found in his car, on St. Joe Rd., north of Notestine Road.  The cause of death was carbon monoxide poisoning.

I wonder if the death of his mother, who died in 1962, was too much for him.  Maybe he struggled with depression or had a medical health issue that factored into his suicide.  Of course, Wilson’s life was so much more than the minuscule snapshots provided in the census, city directories, and other records.  We will never know what caused his desperation to leave this world.

Let’s end with a photo of Wilson, in 1940, as a sophomore at Central High School, in Fort Wayne.  Although at this time, it had only been three years since the death of his father, I hope that Wilson was enjoying his teen years, and was excited about his future.

Sources:
Census records
Indiana death records
Ft. Wayne city directories
WWII Enlistment Records
Central High School yearbooks