Ch 2: Making It Official

Death, divorce, marriage, and adoption--critical events in securing the secret

Except for serving in the Navy during World War II, and a few out of state jobs he took to survive the Great Depression, Norman William Marquis (who I refer to interchangeably in this chapter as “Norm” and “Dad”) lived his whole life in Michigan. His Roman Catholic parents Anne Marie Cheff and William Patrick Marquis emigrated to Detroit’s nearest suburb, River Rouge, Michigan, from Ontario, Canada before their oldest son, Norman, was born in 1907.

He always said the Irish side of him, including his red hair, came from his father with the French last name. I never understood what he meant by that until I heard from my cousins that there were rumors that Dad’s father was adopted. Pipi¹ died in 1933, long before we ever could have known him. The only time I remember Dad mentioning him was to tell us that he was born on the Fourth of July. He failed to mention that his father was adopted. Perhaps that’s where Dad first learned to keep family secrets.