Posterity

I remember his big grin and that mischievous sparkle in his eye.

Dad was quite the character . He was the family member I idolized as a child and respected as an adult. He was the type of personality that everyone loved and wanted to be around. He always took center stage at family and church gatherings.

Dad truly never met a stranger. Many times I'd have to wait for him while he talked to someone in a store or some other place we had gone. I'd asked him who that person was he had been talking to and he'd reply he didn't know them. Dad welcomed any and everyone into his home. His heart was open to all. Dad always had a big grin and a pat on the shoulder for all and a pocket full of candy for children.

He liked nothing more than to share a joke or story. I remember the gleam in his eye when someone would say they had a joke for him. The gleam was in knowing he had the opportunity to tell one of his jokes or wild tales . Mom said those stories got wilder each time he told them. Not saying Dad was a fibber, he just like to embellish those stories for the best possible impact. Dad was our family's version of Mark Twain or Will Rogers.

Dad had quite a few colloquialism he loved to repeat such as "colder than a well digger's back pocket". He seemed to have one for every situation, some not mentionable here. He also professed to be a "Jack of all trades, master of none" He could fix or jury rig about anything.

All was safe with Dad.

Many nights after waking from a bad dream I would creep upstairs to mom and dad's room to be reassured the house wasn't full of monsters or some other horrible thing. I'd wake Dad up asking for a blessing that I was feeling sick. At the time being sick sounded better to me than admitting I was afraid. In later years I fessed up to the fact I was really scared and not sick when asking for all those blessings over the years. He replied he had known that all along.

As a teenager I remember him standing at the front door peeking out the window at us while we sat in front of the house with our dates. The stoop light would flicker off and on signaling time to come in . We ignored the first flicker but knew with each following flicker of the light the possibility of Dad coming out in his under wear and embarrassing us was becoming inevitable. I don't think we ever seen the light flicker the third time. Dad wasn't a strict parent but we knew what he expected of us.

I can still see his silly faces he'd make to cheer us up.

In his later years he told us he wouldn't have anything to leave us when he passed away . What he didn't realize was that he left us with a wealth far more valuable than an inheritance of money or material possessions. He left us his sharp wit, sense of humor , love of mankind, joy of life and treasured memories of him.

Patsy Bowman