our brett favre connection

today would have been my grandfather's 104th birthday. happy birthday, pop! i was so lucky to live with him (and my grandmother) when i was little, and i miss them (both) terribly. but, it has been a long time since he died--29 years, in fact--and since gus is named for him i do get to think about him quite a lot. he was a formidable character but was a wonderful grandfather in every sense. i loved him very much. this picture was taken to commemorate his presidency of texas eastern drilling and transmission in the early 1960s. and no he didn't die of lung cancer, even though that cigarette might suggest otherwise...

all that being said, let me explain our brett favre connection. my grandfather's name was herbert augustus hemphill, as was his father's name and later his son's name (my uncle bert stopped that particular tradition--he hates the name augustus, but not, of course, our gus). pop's father married a by all accounts wonderful woman named carrie favre who was, as he was, from hattiesburg, mississippi. (all of the favres in mississippi seem to have descended from a jean favre who came to america from royan in the poitou-charentes region of france in the late 17th century.) and there they lived for a while and there my grandfather was born. so, not a terribly strong relation but a relation to the mighty brett favre nonetheless.