OT: - Who is/was your most famous/successful blood relative? | The Boneyard

OT: Who is/was your most famous/successful blood relative?

temery

What?
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Yes, I am that bored.

No names needed, but if they're dead, feel free.

For me ... One cousin was in the Olympics, my cousin Carol Vadnais played for the Bruins with Orr, Sanderson, et all. Another was a surgeon who was well known in his field. A great uncle did time in prison for rigging elections. He was on the governors council and took a dive for the top guys. When he got out, he got the first liquor license at the cape when the mass pike was finished, a license to sell insurance, and a no show job at a state college.

So who do ya got?
 
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Me. I randomly became a UConn fan at 6 years old after my first time watching Ray Allen and have ridden that fandom to 4 national championships. Nobody in my family comes close to topping that level of success.
 
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Interesting question which caused me to reflect on what is success, how damn few direct relatives I have, and, how mainstream vanilla most lives have been. Is success or fame an achievement at a moment in time, or does it have to endure? Is success the effect on other people's lives, or your own? Its only 9am and you've burned up all my thinking capability for the day.

I'll use one definition of success as proving the ability to arise to a big moment when a normal person is faced with an extraordinary challenge. My wife's uncle, Frank Riduka, (from Pittsfield), won the Navy Cross on the destroyer Smith in the Solomon Islands in the Battle of Santa Cruz Oct. 26, 1942 in the early days of Guadalcanal. A Japanese plane crashed into the ship, knocked out the bridge, and set the whole ship afire killing 57 men. As Helmsman, keeping his cool during the carnage, he took control at a secondary manual station at the stern and by causing the ship to list violently while smashing down thru the wake of another ship, he caused the burning fuel to be washed overboard, the fires to be reduced to manageable before ammunition on board could explode, and, put the ship back in action in its screening position next to the Enterprise. I have his Navy Cross and his original typed commendation from Admiral Halsey. The account is included in of one of tv's Battle 360 series entitled 'Bloody Santa Cruz' but they don't mention him by name and give credit to the Capt. (Her uncle said the Capt was in and out of consciousness at the beginning).

I guess this post was meant to give his moment of fame some sunshine and give @temery something to read. (Her father also won the Silver Star in the Philippines)
 
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There’s some relation to Donnie McGrath, the Providence PG in mid 2000’s on the Gomes teams.

He tied the NCAA record for most 3’s in a game without a miss - 9-9 vs. Virginia.
 
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John Alden & Priscilla Mullins
Moi aussi. I know this because my maternal grandfather did a through tracing of ancestors, but he deserves a mention because he developed a fungus resisting leather used on boots in WWII. He received a special commendation from Harry Truman. On the other side Connie Mack venerable Philadelphia Athletics manager is the most memorable.
 
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My side of the family are simple folk, but my wife's family has ties to Francis Scott Key and Tom Thumb...
 
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My grandpa was mentioned in a few books about the Korean war battle at Chosin Reservoir...only one I can remember offhand is Colder than Hell. There's another one where he's not mentioned by name, but it talks about his commanding officer and him were both injured and back at the med camp where they stole a jeep so they could get back to the front line.

My neighbor from back in CT was the seal team advisor and played himself in the movie American Sniper

I won a math award in high school...it was in the local paper
 
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Had a great, great uncle or something who wrote some jazz standards--2 of them fairly famous I guess. I'm not a jazz guy so I don't really know. He's featured in the Ken Burns documentary on Jazz.

My grandmother's parents' died young, so she got a pretty hefty royalty check every quarter. Ironically, the never actually met the man because during his life he was a pretty wretched alcoholic. But it paid for all the grandkids college education's and she never worked.
 

CTMike

¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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My brother has his own Wikipedia page, NBD.
 

Drumguy

Funny, now I mostly play guitar
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Wow, this is kinda depressing ... don't have much on my side, Ivan Tors was a 1st cousin of my grandmother. He developed Flipper and Sea Hunt.

My wife has a brother who was an Ambassador, and her many great grandfathers was the Hitchcock chair maker.
 

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