My father, Chess L Harper was born in Burkburnett, TX on 20 SEPT 1920. He was born at home in an old country cabin to Marvin Lee Harper b. 1890 TX (Marvin was the son of Charles Lee Harper b. 1857 in Desota Parish, LA and Frances Roberta Gause) and Beatrice "Blanche" (Thacker )Harper (maiden name was Thacker and she was the daughter of *Albert C. Thacker and Sara Elizabeth "Betty" Bullock ).

Chess L married before he was 21 years old to my mother Etta May Roberts (who was not quite 18 at the time). They had six children. Chess L felt his country needed him and joined the Army/Airforce in 1944 and became a waist gunner. He flew 32 missions over Germany and was shot down and missing in action once.

My father and mother lost their first child in 1943 (still-born) and in 1944 he went to war. The war was hard on my father and he found he could not stay at home and be a dad and husband. In the next 7 yrs he would come and go and he had "stories" to tell anyone that would listen. My father and mother had 6 children (all living) and 4 were born in CA and 2 in OR. During this time after the war my grandfather told us the reason Chess'L was gone so much and left my mother and us kids to work in the fields and sent no money or letters. My father married many times and moved on after 1944.

We are told that we may have many brothers and sisters out there that will never know the truth about his life of families. He had many aliases (Charles Harper, Kenneth Roberts, and others I do not know). He told people that he was CIA and that many things in his life would be top secret. He loved poetry and wrote a poem called "Diamond Lil".

When I was a child he left for good in 1951 and my sister and I traced him and found him married in Phoenix, AZ once and then in Manteca, CA married again to a Maria in 1975. In 1976 he was married to a Shirley Lavern in Troutdale, OR and in 1992 we found him in a nursing home in Yakama, WA (with the help of the Verterns admin) and he was married again to a lady named Flora who we never heard from again. She sent him on a Greyhound to us with a suitcase in his hand (all his worldly possions, his clothes). He said they had a home and a black lab dog, but she was in love with another man and put him in a home and took his money. He had had several small strokes and some serious memory loss and he needed a cane to walk.

Each of us grown kids got to meet our father and visit with him. One day in 1994 he took off and hich-hiked to San Fransico, CA and we found him in a mission down there again. He came back to Oregon and was very sick and went to a nursing home again. We visited him every day and took him on outings and for the weekends. He died in 1997 in a place called Camolott in Forest Grove, Oregon. But I got to know him and we cut down our Christmas tree together and I had a walz with my dad that I will always remember.

So if you are looking for this man about the only way to identify him would be to share a picture. He had changed in his looks so much that I would not have known him, except for his 6'2" heigth and his Texas way of talking. Oh, and that cowboy hat and those boots that he always wore. He could resite poetry like there was no tomorrow.

Charles Rose b. 1824 MO.
+ Susan Bains b. SEPT 1837 VA
Charles Lee HARPER b. AUG 1857 LA
+ Frances Roberta GAUSE b. 13 NOV 1863
2 Marvin Lee HARPER b: 15 OCT 1889 d: 1966
+ Beatrice "Blanche" THACKER b: 16 FEB 1894 d: 1981
3 Alfie HARPER b: abt. 1913 d: abt. 1915
3 Evelyn HARPER b: July 29, 1916
3 Chess L HARPER b: 20 Sept. 1921 d: 13 July 1997