Russell Laverne Paynter 1913-1981

My Dad's only full sibling was his brother Russell.  Born on August 30, 1913 to Joseph and Carrie Paynter, Russell had a very different personality from my Dad, but they remained close all their lives. Russ found jobs in Rye New York for both him and my Dad inn the 1930's.  According to my Dad, Russ married Bonnie Edens around 1939, but the marriage only lasted 8 days.  On September 16, 1942 he enlisted in the army and his status is listed as "Separated, without dependents."  His address on his enlisted record is shown as Hampden, Massachusetts.   Between 1942 and 1946, Russ served as a PFC in the US Army.  He served in the Philippines on a road construction crew.
After the war he had a variety of jobs.  He got his pilot's license and bought an Aeroonca Champ, which he often flew from Honesdale, PA to Edison, NJ.  The Honesdale airfield was a small grass strip, located just west of town and is now the site of a grocery store.  I am not sure where the New Jersey airport was, but it was also a grass strip.  My Dad told me that one time they got to NJ after dark and he held a flashlight out the window of the airplane so Russell could see to land.   Luckily, the Champ was a slow airplane. 
In the early 1950's he met and married Sarah Jane Delosier.  They lived in Edison, New Jersey where Russ had a watch repair shop,  and had a son in 1955.  About 1958 they moved to Riverside, California, near Russ's half brother Enos and friend Doug Reed.  I believe he had a watch repair shop there for a while, then went to work at Lockheed.  As I mentioned in my blog about Enos, my Dad, Mom, sister & I drove across country in 1959 to visit them.  I remember their house was a ranch style house on a dead-end street, with fruit trees in the back yard.  At the end of the road was a fence and an open stretch of land, which I think was Orange County Airport.  I remember my cousin having a great model train set in the garage which he & I played with.   He also had an organ that he was learning to play, and that sparked my desire to learn to play too.  (Santa brought me an organ the next Christmas.)
While in California they experienced a 2nd pregnancy but the child died.  In 1965 they adopted a second son. Over the years I made 2 more trips across the country with my parents to visit them and they came back to New Jersey to visit at least 2 times.   While visiting them in California we went to Disney Land, Knotts Berry Farm, and Mexico.   When they came back to New Jersey, Russ took my cousin and I to Coney Island and we went to the New York World's Fair.  We also visited Sarah's elderly aunt in New York City.
On one trip Russ and my cousin came with us as far as Las Vegas and spent a few days their with us before we started home.   We saw Hoover Dam and the adults played at the casinos.  Children weren't allowed in the casinos at the time, so my cousin and I spent the day in a movie theater set up as a place to drop off the kids.  I will never forget watching "The River of No Return" and "The Great Escape" at least twice through each waiting for the adults to come back for us.  On another day, I remember standing outside the casino window with my parents at slot machines just inside where we could see them, and watching the big neon cowboy wave Howdee.  We were fine and there wasn't a second thought to us waiting outside at the time, but something like that would never be allowed today.
On another trip, Russ and my cousin joined us as we drove north to Seattle to see the Seattle World's fair.   We stopped to see the giant Sequoia trees and Crater Lake along the way.  I have a photo of my cousin and I standing by the giant Sequoia that had a tunnel carved out of it for cars to drive through. 
My parents made several more trips to California after I was out on my own.  My Dad and Russell wrote letters to each other regularly over the years and, when reel-to-reel tape recorders became available, they began sending tapes back and forth.  I have a collection of the tapes Russell sent to my father.  Dad saved them all.
At some point, Russell and Sarah joined the Seventh Day Adventist Church.  I don't know how involved they were in the church, but Russ sent us literature occasionally.  Russ also liked to drink and go to the horse races with his friend Lenny.  I don't now how those two concepts co-existed.  From a distance I cannot say why, but in July 1977, Russell and Sarah were divorced and Russell moved into an apartment.  His drinking was his eventual downfall.  On June 12, 1981, as he walked home intoxicated, he was mugged and killed.  He is buried in Riverside National Cemetery, Riverside, California.