A message from the Kids

Dad, we will remember you most for...

Creating with Mom the magic of Christmas morning.
        Selflessly preparing the traditional Christmas dinner year after.

Organizing backyard drive-in theatres for all the neighborhood kids.
        Playing Floyd Cramer and Charlie Pride 8 track tapes from the basement early Sunday's.

Your coming home from Puerto Rico with sugar cane.
        Your anxious return from the artic with Eskimo artifacts like the walrus.

Working hard on getting the entire clan hooked on Hockey night in Canada and the feuds.
        Exposing us the the culture of the Three Stooges.

Mastering the art of relaxing in front of cartoons, westerns and "old classics".
        Having TV on at 3:00 in the morning and never feeling alone.
        Letting us watch the War in the Worlds and being mesmerized by it.

The comfort of hearing your choked laugh like Mutley.
        Laughing until you had tears in your eyes watching "Airplane" over and over again.

Introducing the family to cream peas on toast.
        Being force fed sausages but really learning to hide them in napkins.

Eating cereal, lot's of cereal at the oddest hours of the day.
        Your love food - all food.

Putting up with the teenagers who started to hang around the house.
        Putting up even less with the boyfriends of your "little girls".

Shopping, shopping and more shopping for sales and more sales.
        Having a knack for finding the best and most interesting finds at garage sales.

Being the most verbally flamboyant driver with the highest blood pressure that we knew.
        Helping us to learn to drive and how to act in a fender bender (slowly reverse and drive away).

Blowing up at the small mistakes in life - like not replacing the milk bag.
        But always being able to forgive the bigger mistakes and help lend a hand.

Taking the plunge and going to see Ricki in Texas.
        Taking an even bigger plunge and going camping (yes in a tent) with Mom in our Datsun.

Seeing your pride in walking for the first time with your prosthesis.
        Trying your hardest to live each day one day at a time since your surgery.

But also opening up as a person and sharing your fears and tears.

        For letting us see a glimpse of what a husband should be for his wife.

For being the recipient of an unconditional parents love.
        And last but not least for being BUBBA to all.

    We will treasure these memories forever, thank you and all our love,
    Ricki, Richard, Charlene, Steve, Glenda, and John