Saturday, December 27, 2014

Lisa Gayle Sherrill Schumaker

You told me that at around age 50 your mom, born Sherill Lee Sherill, bopped into your home and told you she expected you to take care of her for the rest of her life.  I should live so long.  I would like to offer you a string of things your mother did that I had first hand knowledge of.  You consider them, and you may want to toss your mother out on her ear.

You were 5 when you and your mother left Michigan and went to Norfolk, Virginia to stay with older sister Gayle.  Do you remember it very well?  If you do, you should remember that your mother and you had been living in Detroit with a fellow named Marco.  Your mother lived with a lot different men.  Do you remember Walt?  She lived with me.  That's an average length of time of less than 2 years per man that I have first hand knowledge of.  How many in Virginia?

Know why men didn't last for your mother?  She tried to live like she was married to her father.  You grandfather was a pilot, and a senior level Air Force officer, with the salary for it.  He was also a full professor at the University of Michigan, with the salary for it.  He was also a full time consultant with the Ford Motor Company, with 3 company cars that had free fuel and insurance, and the salary.  So your grandfather made pretty good money.  Sherrill only cared about the money, she never cared about who the man was or what he was like as long as he had money.  Trouble is, Sherrill didn't have her mothers face or build.

Why Larry Sherrill worked out, I have no idea, but your mother screwed that up a few years ago.  So She came along and told you to take care of her.  And you hate me?  That's just fine kid, you do that.  My mother is gone, so you can't go to her and share hate for me any more.  Have a great time supporting your mother kid.

Monday, December 22, 2014

The writers interview

Before I could write about murders, I had to really understand them.  The ones that are really easy to understand are impossible to write about, for me anyway.

Some fellow has an ideal marriage, and he murders his perfect wife.  How he does it, is much less interesting than why he did it.  The planning and execution of the scheme can be fascinating, but he needs a reason to be doing it.

I knew such a couple when I was in my early 20's.  They had a nice house on the near west side of Ann Arbor, Michigan.  The guy had a really great job working for one of the major car companies,   I'm pretty sure his wife was a stay home house wife.  They had no children.  The reason I knew the guy was I was a gate guard at one of the 2 car plants the guy handled Human Resources for.

At that time, mid '70's, I was really into playing chess.  I had a chess board that I kept in the guard shack, and I always had a chess book I'd be playing through the annotated games or annotated positions from.  It took years for me to understand that you can only get so good by studying the games of others, and from there you just won't improve much.  He'd come in to check on the plant, and we'd play, and I'd beat him every time.  He was at a playing level where study could have improved his play to perhaps my level of play, which wasn't real good among "players".  How do Grandmasters make a living?  Grandmasters ALL publish books.

A couple of times this fellow invited me over to his house after work to play, and I met his wife.  His wife was a real nice lady.  She would have made a great mom, but that never happened.

Why would this guy want to get rid of his wife?  To get a different wife who could bear him children?  I don't think he wanted a bunch of kids, but I'm only offering opinion based on VERY casual observation.

When I was back home visiting around 15 years later I saw his name in the paper.  He was awaiting sentencing for the murder of his wife.  He ended up getting sentenced to life.  How did he murder his wife?  They went on a Caribbean Cruise, she fell off the fantail of the big sailboat they were on, and they couldn't find her.  How Michigan had jurisdiction in this matter escapes me.

I don't see how a jury could find him guilty of this, but you only get sentenced after conviction.

~ A good story needs details that can be carefully unveiled, one by one, which draw the reader in.