When Harry Met....Eric

I've never really been one to research my family tree, or trace my roots back to the Civil War or anything like that. Some people I know do it, and I think it would indeed be fascinating. I'm sure the internet makes things a whole lot easier to find stuff, too.

But a modern-day interest of mine has now started me upon a bit of a research trip, and I'm really not sure where it'll lead me. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, they say. But I'm already a little bit excited about what I hope to find out.

The first part of the story is my current interest in motorcycles. I've been shopping, and as soon as we get in the new house, I'll most likely be getting one. I've looked at all the "Metric" bikes--which is the bike euphemism for "Japanese" or "foreign" the same way we refer to Toyotas and Nissans--and even walked through the Harley Davidson dealership and was blatantly ignored. Anyway, based on size, price, look, etc. I think I've found one I like: the Suzuki Boulevard C50.

Now, a bit of Eric's family history, which I'll then tie together. My maternal grandfather, Harry White, died when I was in 3rd grade. He was 59, lived in Booneville, Mississippi, and died of a massive heart attack. Because of where he lived, and my age when he passed away, I didn't know much nor do I remember much about him. He was tall and had black hair; I remember going to the funeral, and the burial right outside of a small country church. Point being--as a 10-year old, I never got a chance to really know him. But I do remember my mom telling me that a motorcycle dealership on Summer was named Harry's Suzuki because of him. Mom might've even had a keychain or something with the dealership name on it. In my young mind, I thought it was cool that my grandaddy was sort of "famous" and that I was related to him.

How ironic that I've now picked out a Suzuki. I'm not into extraterrestrial signs or anything like that; I just think it's cool that my grandaddy's brand is now my favorite. So I decided to see what I could find about Harry's Suzuki. Maybe it was "Bubba's Suzuki" and Grandaddy bought him out--who knows. Could I find anybody that could tell me about it? Got any pics of the dealership? What about an old shirt, or maybe a keychain? So I tried Google. I knew that since it doesn't exist anymore, info on the dealership might be hard to find. But I did get a decent hit--the Memphis Motorcycle Club has a "Jerry Matthews Award", which is named for someone who used to own Harry's Suzuki. I fired off an email today (hoping the link was good, and the person still checked their email address), and here's what I got:

Harry White was the original owner of Harry's Suzuki. He sold the business to Jerry Matthews in the 70's. Jerry did not change the name, since it was well recognized in the motorcycle community and most of the people who worked there continued to work for Jerry until his death sometime in the 90's.

He went on to give me a couple of names of folks who might've worked for my grandfather and who are still active in the local motorcycle dealership community. Suffice it to say that I'm gonna try my darndest to find them. If it's a dead end, so be it. But at least I will know that I tried. And one day, if and when I get my Suzuki, I will know that someone, somewhere will think that I made a good choice. I'll keep you posted.