- This page is for the kindly Shattered Glass civil rights lawyer. For his firebrand main-universe counterpart, see Jeremiah Witwicky.
"Son, with every great victory comes a great sacrifice. Remember that."
Name: Jeremiah Witwicky
Faction: Human
Function: Civil Rights Lawyer
"Good, bad, - it doesn't matter - Jesus loves all of us."
The Witwicky family in the late 19th and early 20th century suffered from a sort of "even number Star Trek movie" phenomena - the odd-numbered kids turned out to be drunks, or lazy drifters, and the even-numbered kids turned out to be scientists and in the case of Jeremiah Witwicky, a celebrated civil rights lawyer.
Born in 1914, the 4th child out 5, Jeremiah Witwicky quickly gravitated toward his church's youth group. His daily devotion to God shaped the path he wanted to pursue. In his case, it was anything that would help the less fortunate and the weak. After paying his way through college by being a field worker, Jeremiah excelled in college and was a shining student in his law class. He had offers to work for a business firm in Boston, but chose to remain in Little Rock. At a time of great racial divide, Jeremiah took on cases that few other lawyers would touch. In Little Rock, he met his wife Margaret.
While he was celebrated in the minority community and in some churches, he was vilified by others for his steadfast stance on civil rights. As the racial environment grew more hostile, his time with his family suffered. His sons, William "Sparkplug" and Ron Witwicky were oftentimes left to be raised by Margaret, though Jeremiah made it a point to take his sons fishing every Sunday. However, the family's modest income, combined with the occasional brick being thrown through their window took a toll on the family and Margaret eventually wound up divorcing Jeremiah in 1953. William routinely expressed disdain for his father as he was routinely teased in school by racist peers. His other brother, Ron, despised his father's work ethic.
Jeremiah routinely fretted over his sons. Though he routinely tried to instill such Biblical tenants like compassion, love for your fellow neighbor, and stewardship, his sons continued to rebel against their idealistic father. When Sparkplug had his own children, Jeremiah saw it as an opportunity to right previous wrongs. Calling Spike and Buster "my little angels", he vowed to be a presence of good in his grandsons lives. He routinely expressed concern over his own son's violent outbursts and frequent drunken behavior. In 1978, Sparkplug relocated to another state without telling his father, taking his sons in the process. Without access to sophisticated database technology, Jeremiah was never able to locate his grandchildren or their father. He spent the last years in his life combatting depression, lamenting on his own failures as a father. He devoted his remaining years to his church, organizing fundraising events for elderly patients who were unable to pay for their bills and overseeing the expansion of a new wing devoted to community hunger outreach. In 1989, he suffered a heart attack while in church and died 4 days later.
His funeral was so widely attended by local community leaders that his service had to be "beamed" into separate conference rooms in his church. Neither of his sons attended his funeral, but his ex-wife Margaret was in attendance. A bench was purchased in his honor by the mayor of Little Rock and a scholarship fund was set up in his name. 20 years later, civic-minded students are still benefitting from Jeremiah Witwicky's stewardship, compassion, and sacrifice.
Logs[]
1978[]
- "Gone Fishin'" - Seeing his available time with his grandchildren getting fewer and further between visits, Jeremiah decides to make the most of his time, encouraging his grandson to never give up.