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Notes
a. Note:   Walter Cobourn, Dad
 When I was born my parents were living in an apartment in the town of Haverford, I'm not sure but at the time my Dad was a chauffer for the Thorton family. My first cousin Mildrew Phifer gave me this information and I'm pretty sure its correct since she did baby set me according to Mom.Throughout my childhood I carried a lot of guilt because my father was not living with us and that I had another father in the form of a step-father that I had to contend with. I would not allow my step-father to take the place of my father. My father would take me out nearly every Sunday at first then after a while it was once a month until after many years he stopped coming over to take me out. He did keep me in clothes and he did remain in touch and then later I use to visit him at his work, Blocks Department Store in Norristown. The reason he finally stop taking me out on Sunday was his wife Ruth. Mom made sure that I knew this but she didn't tell me to turn me against my father but to insure that I knew it was her and not my Dad.
 Before I went off to the Military my Dad came by and brought me a birthstone ring so I would have something from him, he was a good person, but a person I really didn't know. Its strange but I can remember being told by all parties why things were a certain way but I don't believe I understood or they were given to me in a derogatory way. I do feel I would have been much better off if Dad stayed out of the picture until I was older and could have understood. hindsight.
 Later in life I contacted my half brother Richard Cobourn. He told me that Dad did drink a lot especially in later life. I had always been under the impression that my Dad was one of the few Cobourn's that didn't drink, so wrong. Richard said Dad got up and was brushing his teeth and just fell over with a heart attack and died. Richard also told me that his mother was a very controlling person, which explains the incident my mother told me that she came by the house and wanted my mother to have my name changed so she could name her son, Walter. Richard was born in 1945 after two prior sisters which is just about the time my mother told me this incident happened.
 Dad was a good looking guy, every body like him but he lacked that desire to get ahead. After he divorced Mom I know he became a collector for an insurance company then went to work at Blocks Department Store as a salesman until his retirement thirty years later.
 When I was home on leave my Dad came by the house and wanted to open a washer and dryer coin operated business with him in Bridgeport which I refused to do, good move because it went belly up after a couple of years. This must have been in 1958, right before I went to Germany. Dad never had a problem about coming over to my parents home to see me, actually Bill and Dad knew each other back in the days when they were both chauffers, small world.
 Dad was always very nice to me, I don't think we ever had any bond but he did keep me in clothes and bought me personal items like the ring, braclet I.D. and a watch. I really hated his choice of clothes, always knickers. I did like the Dick Tract type hats he got me but other than that it was terrible. I must have been a little proud of him because I always took my wife and friends up to see him at Blocks. When I returned from Germany in 1961 I introduced my wife and daughter to Dad, he seemed very impressed but there was still that distance, I guess you could say we were really strangers that had a past.



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