In his own words: Grandpa Elmer Gorry reflects

Elmer Gorry reflects on his career/life before working at NBC in the Fall-Winter 1998 Peacock North newsletter.

My dad recently showed me this page from an old NBC magazine, in which my grandfather, Elmer Gorry, reflects on his days before working for the television network. He talks about his days working as a longshoreman in Brooklyn in the late 1940s-early 1950s (think the classic movie "On the Waterfront") and delivering baked goods to homes in Queens in the early 1950s. I knew about his working as a longshoreman but it was so cool to "hear" about it in his own words. These are the kinds of stories - the stories about life in general in a particular time period and place and about life in particular for individual members of our families - that really round out our genealogy research and make it come alive. These are the stories we try to get when we interview family members, glimpses into their lives, the stories that become part of our families' oral tradition. My grandfather, who passed away 8 years ago, was always very funny and had a sharp wit, and it was nice to "hear" his voice again in reading this vignette.

Call for help: What happened to William Meyer/William Myer? And who was his family?

Sometimes in genealogy, people seemingly disappear into thin air. Sometimes it's someone from way back, like my John Meinberg, who pretty much just dropped off the face of the earth somewhere in the mid-1870s. Did he die? Did he up and leave? Did he get swallowed by a whale or abducted by aliens? Nobody knows. Well, maybe somebody knows. But I don't. Other times, it's somebody more recent, as in the case of a recent client who is searching for someone from the 20th century on her family tree. So this is our call for help - we don't know what happened to him or even really his family history, but maybe YOU know. Here's what we do know:

• His name was Bill or William Mayer(s)/Meyer(s)/Myer(s).
• He was born possibly in 1932, but to cover our bases, let's say somewhere between 1927-1934.
• He was from the Bronx, New York, though he might not have been born there and he might have lived in other parts of New York City as a child.
• He was an Air Force military policeman (MP) at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona, where he was stationed in 1953-1954. 
• He also worked off base as a bartender.
• He wore glasses!
• He was Jewish.

Edited to add: we have some new information to take into consideration! In addition to the above info, the following are STRONG leads:

• William Meyer seems to be the correct spelling, or at least how he was spelling his name in the late 1940s, early 1950s.
• 1929-30 seems to be the more accurate date of birth range.
• He may have attended R.O.T.C. School of Military Science at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona during the years 1949-50.

Did you serve in the Air Force with Bill Meyer? Was William Myer you grandmother's cousin? We're all connected in so many ways and there's always somebody else somewhere either looking for the same person in the same tree or who has the info being looked for. My client is just looking for some personal connection to that branch of their family tree - were William or his parents immigrants, and where might they have come from? Were they musicians? What were they like, and might it be possible to make that leap even further back to across the Atlantic? 

So if you think you can help, please leave me a comment on this post and we'll figure out how to put all the pieces together! Thanks, genealogy family! :)