SIXTH GENERATION

619. Gertrude Marie ADAMS was born on 5 Oct 1915 in Plantsville, Athens County, Ohio.

She was married to Harold Emmett SAWYER (son of Conrad Henry "Carroll" SAWYER and Floras Geneva DICKINSON) on 28 Dec 1946 in Columbus, Franklin County, Ohio. Harold Emmett SAWYER was born on 10 Nov 1920 in Columbus, Franklin County, Ohio. He died on 22 Jun 2002 in Columbus, Franklin County, Ohio.

Harold Emmet Sawyer (November 10, 1920 - June 22, 2002) A Remembrance

A man of great integrity and very few words, Harold Emmet Sawyer, stood tall as a man among men. With all of his attributes, awards, and recognitions, like the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal of Honor and Captain Sawyer Day; Uncle Harold was always just "Uncle Harold." That's what made him so special. He was a gift from God and he didn't even know it. And if he did know-he never showed it.

As a member of the now famous Tuskegee Airmen, Uncle Harold never talked too long or too much about his experiences as a World War II hero. It was always about the other men and never about him.

I remember a time many years ago when my sisters, Leslie and Debbie, and I went to our grandparents home and we saw a picture of a young Uncle Harold in a pilot's uniform hanging on the Sawyer's family room wall. At the young age of six or seven, I naively asked my father, Wesley, "Dad, who is that man in the uniform?" He proudly responded, "that man is your Uncle Harold son and he is a real American hero!" Well, at that age, I am not sure I fully understood what an American was, much less a hero. But I did take away from that conversation with my father that Uncle Harold was a pretty special person, not just to my sisters and me, but also to a whole lot of other people. Some of you may remember my dad, Wesley Sawyer, after whom Sawyer Towers, Sawyer Manor, and Sawyer Recreation Center was named.

Several weeks after that conversation, Mom, Dad and all three of us kids piled in our station wagon and headed over to Uncle Harold and Aunt Gertrude's house. Not knowing any better, I asked Uncle Harold if he really was a hero. He responded by saying "Greg, Betty (my mother) and Wesley tell me that you kids are doing very well in school." With Uncle Harold, it was never about him, it was always about who ever was talking or visiting with him.

Dad was right. Uncle Harold was truly an American Hero! Not because he was a Tuskegee Airman, that was just a piece of it, more so because Harold Sawyer was a loving soul who genuinely cared about people. He loved his lovely wife Gertrude and all of his family. He treated each and everyone of us with the greatest respect and admiration. We can all say collectively that we are better people for knowing Harold Sawyer. If you ever spoke with him, you left the room more calm and collected. A visit with Uncle Harold was almost like going to confession. You just felt better afterward.

If most people had Uncle Harold's movie star good looks and hero recognition, it would be difficult at best to be in the same room with them for any extended period of time. Yet, Harold Sawyer simply used all of his God given talents to help other people. I remember sitting in the Manager's office over at Bolivar Arms (now Wesley Sawyer Manor), watching Uncle Harold in his cool, calm and collected manner helping an older woman who was having a difficult time at best making ends meet in order to pay her rent. I sat there on this huge chair with my legs dangling back and forth, listening to Uncle Harold say "Hon, don't worry about it [the rent] this month, I'll catch you next month when things are better for you." When she walked out of the room, there was a glow about her, almost as if she had been touched by an angel. The more I got to know this great man over the next thirty years, the more I realized, she had been touched by an angel!

In the almost fifty years I have known Uncle Harold, I can honestly say that I have never heard him say a cross word about or to anyone or anybody!

I have been away from Columbus for many years, yet I always come back home at least once a year to see Mom and my sisters. Many times my trips to Columbus were a fast and furious two-day whirlwind. Uncle Harold and Aunt Gertrude lived right around the corner from Mom's house, and sometimes I would only stop in for five minutes or so just to say hello before heading out of town, but that's all it took for them. Although they both seemed so appreciative that I came by, I always left feeling like a million dollars! I felt like I was really someone special!

Just three years ago, my wife, Rita, and I videotaped an interview with Uncle Harold about his experiences as a Tuskegee Airman and about his grandfather (my great-grandfather), George Dickinson, who was a Buffalo Soldier. I knew better than to say too much about Uncle Harold, around Uncle Harold. He had already trained all of us who entered his home that hero talk, at least about him, would not take place in his house. That thirty-minute tape is the longest I have ever heard Uncle Harold speak…well, at least in consecutive minutes. That tape will be cherished forever by the family because it truly chronicles the life of an American hero, not a black one or a white one, but an American hero. A true hero, who walked and talked softly, but carried a mighty big and impressionable stick.

It has been said that "those who walk with the crowd usually get no further than the crowd - but those who walk alone are distinct and different." Harold Emmet Sawyer was truly distinct and different. In a time when heroes are tarnished, politics are corrupt, businesses are dishonest and clergy are suspect, we look to men like Harold Sawyer, who are few and far between, to regain our perspective.

Uncle Harold, when you flew your P-51's up in the heavens, you could almost see the face of God, and now you are flying with him. And, although your physical presence is no longer with us, what you have meant to each and every one of us will last us a lifetime. We love you!

Tuskegee Airmen - Continue to carry the torch!

Delivered by:
Dr. Wm. Gregory Sawyer (nephew of Capt. Harold Emmet Sawyer)
At St. Philip's Episcopal Church
Saturday, June 29, 2002

She was married to Joseph FULTZ (son of George FULTZ and Anna WEST) on 17 Aug 1934 in Moundsville, West Virginia. Joseph FULTZ was born on 5 Oct 1908 in Glouster, Athens County, Ohio. He died on 4 Sep 1968 in Columbus, Franklin County, Ohio.