Subject
Hisey, Edwin Wightman (1914-1993)
Hisey, Mary E. (Wightman) (1889-1951)
Description
The name, "Heisey", is written on the glass plate of this image of a woman seated on a bench with her arm around a young child.
After further research, it is likely this child was Edwin Wightman Hisey, the son of Walter Brownlow (1888-1968) and Mary E. (Wightman) Hisey, from Edinburg.
The woman in the photograph was likely his mother, Mary E. (Wightman) Hisey.
Edwin grew up in Mount Hope, Fayette County, West Virginia, where his father worked for many years as a bookkeeper for a coal company.
He graduated from Mount Hope High School and attended the Central Academy of Commercial Arts in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1940, he married Nancy Love Gregory. The Beckley Post Herald newspaper reported that 150 guests attended the wedding.
When Edwin registered for the WWII draft, he was described as having “weak eyes, tonsillectomy, and heart condition”. Nevertheless, he enlisted in the U.S. Army in May 1942, to serve his country. His marriage, however, did not last and the couple divorced.
By 1950, Edwin was living back in Edinburg. He worked as an Assistant Manager in a grocery store. He married Charlotte Evelyn Wisman (1919-1987) that year. She worked as a bookkeeper in a department store and was the daughter of Edgar Hammon and Mary Ellen (Downey) Wisman.
They enjoyed many years together and raised at least two children. When he died, Edwin was a retired U.S. Post Office clerk.