The Vacant Chair
Dad's
Chair
This author discussed the
origin of the name Ibach on the opening page. It’s natural, if not somewhat
eerie, that there are many examples and parallels of our common roots being
drawn to wood and water. The Vacant Chair will help one understand what this
simple but elegant piece of wooden furniture means to me.
The chair was purchased
new in southern Minnesota by my grandfather Ibach between 1875 and 1880. It was
hand crafted from a native American Butternut tree (Juglans cinera L.)
For those of you from south of the Mason/Dixon line, this tree is usually called
the White Walnut. The wood is much lighter than Black Walnut in both color and
weight. It was used primarily for home interiors and furniture.
My father said this was
his father’s chair except when his mother rocked him to sleep as a child
(circa 1881 to 1884). As long ago as I can remember this was my father’s
chair. (I’m sure my mother used it to rock my older sister and I, circa 1934
to 1939.)
Growing up, this chair was
off limits to my sister and I. When the evening paper arrived my Dad would head
for this chair with pencil in hand. After what seemed like an eternity of
staring at folded sheets of paper to a 3 to 5 year old, my father would then go
to work on the crossword puzzle. I’m sure my envy of his rapt attention to a
newspaper and the intent look on his face as he solved those puzzles, piqued my
curiosity and nurtured my early love of the written word.
When my Dad’s health
began to deteriorate and we moved from Minnesota to California in 1946 we left
the chair behind, (safely stored upstairs, we rented out the first floor). We
moved into a furnished house that included an upholstered rocker. This became my
Dad’s new chair. You could tell it was not the same. He never looked the same
or felt the same in that “new” chair.
My mother, sister and I
accompanied his ashes back to Minnesota during the summer of 1951. After a
touching graveside service, conducted by the local Elk’s Lodge of which my Dad
had been a charter member, a men’s choir made up of Elk members, joined in the
traditional song, played and/or sung with the passing of one of its’ members; The
Vacant Chair.
