My mom was supposed to have an older brother. I was supposed to have an uncle. My grandparents were supposed to have a son. But life is full of curveballs, and Chester Leland Millhouse became a victim of one of those wayward pitches.
Chester Leland Millhouse, 1950, 157 Ridgecrest Rd, Bethlehem, West Virginia.
Week 33: Tragedy
On 10 February 1950, my would-be uncle, “Ches Le” was born in Wheeling, West Virginia to Edna and Ray Millhouse, first time parents. As Edna’s sister, Sheila, would put it, “Ches Le was such a bright light for us.”
Annie Diamond (Williams) Millhouse, 10 Feb 1950, diary, unnumbered page, Chester Leland Millhouse birth announcement.
The little boy came at a time when the family needed a little pick-me-up, as Edna’s father (Chester’s namesake) had suddenly passed away from a heart attack just a few months prior in November.
Edna Millhouse and son Chester Leland, 1950, Oil City, Pennsylvania.
Ray and Edna Millhouse and son Chester Leland, 1950, Oil City, Pennsylvania.
But time with their new little ray of sunshine would be short-lived. Just about a month prior to his 1st birthday celebration, he landed in the hospital with some sort of bronchial infection. He was commonly prone to bronchitis.
Annie Diamond (Williams) Millhouse, 8 Jan 1951, diary, unnumbered page, Chester Leland Millhouse taken to hospital entry.
It’s likely that that cold weakened his pulmonary system, and what came next was just an unfortunate chain of events. A few short weeks later, on the evening of February 6th, 1951, Chester Leland was rushed into emergency surgery at Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh, where the specialist was located.
It was a Tuesday night, and while Edna’s younger sister, Sheila, typically babysat little Ches Le most nights when Edna was working, on this particular night, Sheila had choir practice, so she couldn’t do it. And their mother, Beatrice (affectionately known as Mamu), was preoccupied as well. Beatrice occasionally baked a variety of pastries and sweets for a restaurant, so she was stuck in the kitchen all night. When either of them couldn’t watch over the toddler, the job went to his great grandparents, Nathan and Elizabeth Dixon, who lived upstairs.
The couple, mind you, kept a very tidy room. But their cleanliness was no match for Ches Le’s crawling explorations. If there was something to be found on the floor, this kid would find it, and this kid would eat it! He wasn’t shy about putting anything in his mouth.
Chester Leland Millhouse, ca. Jan 1951, 157 Ridgecrest Rd, Bethlehem, West Virginia.
On occasion, the Dixons would eat popcorn up in their bedroom. This wasn’t one of those nights, but they did have a braided rug on the floor; and for anyone not aware, those rugs are terribly hard to keep clean due to the fine weaving. It would seem an old popcorn kernel had been wedged into the rug. Ches Le stumbled upon it, he ate it, and tragically, he choked on it.
Annie Diamond Millhouse, Ches Le’s paternal grandmother, recorded a timeline of what happened in her diary. She mentioned that they operated on his lungs at 11:30pm that night at Mercy Hospital in Pennsylvania, he frighteningly went into convulsions, and the doctors then worked on his throat at 7am the following morning, inserting a tracheostomy.
Annie Diamond (Williams) Millhouse, 6 Feb 1951 to 22 Feb 1951, diary, p.148-149, Chester Leland Millhouse surgery and death entries.
In the early morning hours of February 8th, the poor kid had another relapse, but on the 9th, he was beginning to feel better. By Saturday, on his 1st birthday, Ches Le was still stuck in the hospital, but he was improving. And he continued to get better over the following week.
Chester Leland Millhouse, 20 February 1950, Mercy Hospital, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
On February 21st, nearly two weeks had passed since the initial incident. Annie and her husband Harry drove up to Mercy Hospital with their son Ray (Ches Le’s father) along with Edna’s mother. They all visited with Ches Le, who appeared to be healthy again. The doctors had even decided to take out the tube from his trachea.
In retrospect, those orders were given prematurely.
From what family members recall, Edna had remained with him up in Pittsburgh throughout his entire hospitalization. When the tube was removed, everyone was told they should go home and get some rest. Ray, having to go into work the next day, left with his parents and returned to Wheeling that night around 11:30pm.
Apparently, as soon as they arrived home, they got the call that Ches Le was struggling, possibly with a mucus blockage. So Ray had to immediately drive the hour back to Pittsburgh, but the specialist was also down in Wheeling on a different case. And he was also called to return, but ended up being delayed due to an accident on the turnpike.
The other doctors at Mercy were unable to save Ches Le. They tried to resuscitate him, but eventually, Edna (with her strong nursing background) had to be the one to call it and tell the doctors to stop trying to revive him. Ches Le passed away around 2am that night.
Services were held a couple days later, and Chester Leland Millhouse was buried at Halcyon Hills Memorial Cemetery in Sherrard, West Virginia, nearby his grandfather and namesake, Chester Joseph Dean.
Chester Leland Millhouse headstone, Halcyon Hills Memorial Cemetery, Sherrard, West Virginia.
While no single person could be blamed or held accountable for Ches Le’s tragic death, the entire family battled with self guilt – a terrible burden to bear. From that moment forward, the house in West Virginia remained popcorn-free. Unfortunately, this was just one of those unpreventable life events that test our overall stamina and fortitude.
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