Brady's death impacted Pomeroy man's life

POMEROY––A Garfield County resident who made his home in the foothills of the Blue Mountain felt the effects of the loss of Bert Brady his entire life, according to Lillian Heytvelt, Denny Ashby Library director.

Heytvelt recalls a man by the name of Ralph E. Wilkins, who lived alone near her grandparents' home.

Wilkins was afflicted with a cleft lip, Heytvelt says.

Wilkins was a first cousin to the father of Vern Scoggin, according to Scoggin. "The sinking of the Titanic actually had an impact on the Scoggin family," he wrote in a FaceBook post shared by Heytvelt. "John Brady, a wealthy banker from Pomeroy, was one of the men lost in the disaster. He was going to pay for surgery to repair a cleft lip of Ralph Wilkins, one of my Dad's first cousins. Unfortunately, that never happened and Ralph led a life of relative solitude at his ranch near the Forest Boundary. Dad and my Uncle Jim helped him out anytime they could."

Anecdotal evidence indicates Brady was a grouse hunter and got to know Wilkins through hunting.

Wilkins was born in 1894 and died in 1964. He is buried in the Pataha Flat Cemetery.

East Washingtonian reporter Naomi Scoggin is related to Vern Scoggin.

-Loyal Baker