Robert F Cramer

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Two Marvins, two Watkins. two Cramers — what fun ...
Resources For Communicators A Faith - Values Newsletter

My uncle, Keith Marvin, labored-all the while I knew him-on rich,

definitive histories of his mother's and his father's ancestors, the
Marvins/Mervyns and the Silvemails/Silbemagels. Both families can be
traced to the 15th century.
My uncle Keith exchanged information with another Mr. Keith Marvin! He
was not really even a shirttail relative, but a son of Dwight Marvin who had
edited the Record Newspapers in Troy, New York. I love that they both had
the same name.
Another of Uncle Keith's correspondents was the Rev. Gerald Watkins, in
England, who knew of the Marvin/Mervyns there.
I write this note for my sister, Janice Cramer, who is unofficial (and, I
guess, only) historian of our immediate family these days. The rest of the
world can be amazed, too, since this is on the Web. (For folks reading this
in print, it's www.rfcnews.com).
When I was still in seminary (now Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity
School in Rochester, New York — my Uncle Keith's city, where he was an
associate architect in the school district)-I received a gift of money from ...
the Rev. Gerald Watkins! Yes, the same name again, this time across a
sizeable pond.
This Gerry Watkins was associate pastor of the Lake Avenue Baptist
Church in Rochester. Dr. Watkins told me that one of my great-uncles,
brothers who were rural physicians in northern New York state, had helped
him with a gift of money when Gerry was a student at Colgate Rochester
( as it was then). I don't remember if it was Dr. Lansing or Dr. Will Cramer!
But there we go again: two people sharing the same last name. The Rev.
Gerald Watkins (the New York state one) had waited nearly the rest of his
life, he told me, before finding the one best person to whom he could pass
along the gift. I was overwhelmed, of course. I confess that I haven't found
the right person yet — and at 73, with no social security, may well have to
hand her or him an IOU! But I imagine there is an opportunity waiting
somewhere. Meanwhile, as Judy and I prepare to leave in a few days for
London, Ramsey and Great Bentley, England —my ancestral homes — I feel
like noting the very strange convergence of pairs of names in family
connections. Just imagining the chances of this blows my mind.
— Bob Cramer, updated January 28, 2009. www.rfcnews.com/?p=105