August 24

Lester Morris Burford, Sr. died 24 August 1990, age 77

PHOTO: Lester Burford, Christmas 1967

Lester Burford was my grandfather. He and my grandmother Cleffie Hicks Burford, were the most influential people in my childhood, other than my parents. They started taking me to church with them from the time I was a baby, and I spent nearly every Saturday night at their house, and all day Sunday with them and whatever friends from church they spent the day with. Lester and Cleffie ("Grandma and Papa") lived in Watervliet, Michigan, just a few miles from where I lived -- in Bangor and later Hartford. When we lived in Bangor, when I was very young, sometimes Mom and Rick and I would ride the train from Bangor to Watervliet to spend the day at Grandma and Papa's, and Dad would drive to Watervliet after work to pick us up. (Yes, one car per family. This was the 1950s -- one car, one phone, one TV... one 'breadwinner' and one 'homemaker'... But I digress...)

PHOTO: Lester and Cleffie Burford, 1967

Lester was a son of Alexander Oscar Burford, Jr. and Lora Gibson Burford.

PHOTO: Alexander and Lora with their first five children - Deb, Helen, Ishmael, George, Killough. They had five more children - Bernice, Lester, Neil, Juanita, and Judy. (Alexander had 3 children with his first wife, Helen Virginia, before he married Lora: Raymond, Edith, and Hazel. They were still young when Helen Virginia died, after which Alexander married Lora.)

PHOTO: Lester Morris Burford, 6 months old (1913)

Lester married Cleffie Lorene Hicks in 1935

Lester and Cleffie were the parents of my mother, Wathada

and my uncles - Morris, Bob, and Ron

Well, it's just about impossible for me to decide which of the hundreds of pictures of Papa to post here, so I guess I'll just skip to the end

These pictures were taken on their 50th wedding anniversary in 1985, at my mom and dad's house in Downey, California. 

PHOTO L-R: Cleffie, Wathada, Morris, and Lester.

These are the last pictures I have of Lester.