I spent most of yesterday afternoon attending the funeral of a man I have known all my life. Although he was not related to me by blood he was married to my aunt for over 50 years and was a dear uncle. He had been very sick and suffered greatly for a couple of years before passing away at the age of 81. He was ready to go and although there was mourning and some tears everyone knew he had gone on to a better place and this was a comfort to all. His funeral was mostly a celebration of his life. I learned some things about him at his funeral that I never knew and would never have guessed.....
Uncle Don was a nut. An absolute clown who never met a stranger and would have anyone laughing at his antics within minutes of meeting him. He was always ready to help anyone at anytime tackle any project from building a house to working on a car or anything in between. Problem was, he was a total klutz! No disrespect intended and I can lovingly say that he worked 30 plus years as a brakeman on the railroad and I guess he knew about being a brakeman.....but as far as I could tell that is the only type work he had a clue about- but that didn't stop him from trying!
I couldn't tell you how many of his cars I have "completed" the repairs on over the years. Work that he "started".....but had bad luck with. Things like stripped plug holes in oil pans and oil filters cross threaded to spark plugs cross threaded or broken off. Once he bought a new riding lawnmower and hauled it 30 miles to our house to surprise my dad by mowing our lawn while dad was at work. Dad was surprised alright....especially when he noticed his prize tomato plants mowed down! Another time we were planning to put new shingles on my wife and my first house. Bright and early on the morning we were to start....Uncle Don was the first to show up to help....with his 5 pound shop hammer to drive the roofing nails with!
I have always thought of him as a lovable clown. A man who would give you the shirt off of his back. A man who would do whatever he could to help anyone with anything that despite his willingness was not always that helpful. A slim wiry hawk nosed man who ALWAYS had a unlit cigar clenched between his teeth and never missed a high school football game on Friday night. He attended every game I ever played and every game my son ever played and most every game between ours. He would often talk of plays in games I played in like they had just happened last night - not 30 years ago.
Despite his many failures his intentions were always good- he didn't have a mean bone in his body and although we did sometimes get aggravated with him at times...you couldn't stay mad for long. Just a lovable clown who was well intentioned but not much good for anything but a laugh. But there was a part of him I didn't know......until yesterday.
At the funeral home there was a board with hundreds of photos of him that were all taken at various times in his life, As I looked them over-many were familiar to me, but one wasn't...It showed him as a handsome young man in the uniform of the U.S. Marines. I was very surprised for I had never known he had served in the armed forces-he had never mentioned it. When I walked up to his casket to pay my last respects I was again surprised by the medals from his service on his chest-earned before I was born in Korea in a place called Chosin Reservoir . I had heard of this battle but am ashamed to say I didn
Uncle Don was a nut. An absolute clown who never met a stranger and would have anyone laughing at his antics within minutes of meeting him. He was always ready to help anyone at anytime tackle any project from building a house to working on a car or anything in between. Problem was, he was a total klutz! No disrespect intended and I can lovingly say that he worked 30 plus years as a brakeman on the railroad and I guess he knew about being a brakeman.....but as far as I could tell that is the only type work he had a clue about- but that didn't stop him from trying!
I couldn't tell you how many of his cars I have "completed" the repairs on over the years. Work that he "started".....but had bad luck with. Things like stripped plug holes in oil pans and oil filters cross threaded to spark plugs cross threaded or broken off. Once he bought a new riding lawnmower and hauled it 30 miles to our house to surprise my dad by mowing our lawn while dad was at work. Dad was surprised alright....especially when he noticed his prize tomato plants mowed down! Another time we were planning to put new shingles on my wife and my first house. Bright and early on the morning we were to start....Uncle Don was the first to show up to help....with his 5 pound shop hammer to drive the roofing nails with!
I have always thought of him as a lovable clown. A man who would give you the shirt off of his back. A man who would do whatever he could to help anyone with anything that despite his willingness was not always that helpful. A slim wiry hawk nosed man who ALWAYS had a unlit cigar clenched between his teeth and never missed a high school football game on Friday night. He attended every game I ever played and every game my son ever played and most every game between ours. He would often talk of plays in games I played in like they had just happened last night - not 30 years ago.
Despite his many failures his intentions were always good- he didn't have a mean bone in his body and although we did sometimes get aggravated with him at times...you couldn't stay mad for long. Just a lovable clown who was well intentioned but not much good for anything but a laugh. But there was a part of him I didn't know......until yesterday.
At the funeral home there was a board with hundreds of photos of him that were all taken at various times in his life, As I looked them over-many were familiar to me, but one wasn't...It showed him as a handsome young man in the uniform of the U.S. Marines. I was very surprised for I had never known he had served in the armed forces-he had never mentioned it. When I walked up to his casket to pay my last respects I was again surprised by the medals from his service on his chest-earned before I was born in Korea in a place called Chosin Reservoir . I had heard of this battle but am ashamed to say I didn
