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...and, despite that, your Uncle Chief sounds like he persevered! 
Irish Catholic - they were like freaking bunnies! Each family of my direct descendants had 8 kids in every family... 
A 'mixed' marriage-- Catholic and Jew. Had 17 kids.
Sounds like a man with a plan
my grand-aunt had attitude, confidence and grit.
I met her (and Chief) only once ... at my grand-mother's funeral. They, both, drank from sun up to sun up, and I didn't see them drunk! And chief beat me out of most of my entire allowance playing Tonk. Then, sent me to the store to get him a half gallon and cigarettes (tells you how old I am that a 10 year old could go to the corner store and buy liquor and smokes, just on the word, "My uncle wants ..."
and told me not to come home without them ... he gave me less than what I needed to make the purchase.
I love family histories.
Most of the stories I have heard weren't washed ... unless stories that begin with, "That bastard ..." or "that MF .."
(My family will never be considered delicate )
... I was raised on those kind of stories and loved every one of them. Turned me into a genealogy freak and I've enjoyed every minute of it. 
... it was those once-a-year weekend-long family reunions where great aunts/uncles, their children and a ton of second cousins trekked across the country with their musical instruments. The reunion was held in a beautiful city park with playground equipment everywhere AND a swimming pool. Shelter had a stage complete with a piano and loud speakers. Out of the cases came the accordion, guitars, mandolin and fiddle. Mamma played the piano. One great uncle was a concert pianist!!!
Those were the days, 1StrongBlackMan. Those were the days. 
