A Loss. . .

My Uncle passed away this week. He lived in Tennessee and knew everyone. When we talked with folks that knew him they all had a story to tell about something he had done or said that somehow changed their lives. I know a lot of people say they had friends or relatives that knew everyone and had never met a stranger but my Uncle truly never met a stranger. If he did meet someone he did not know he knew someone they knew and quickly became friends with them. He loved life and the outdoors. He was 85 years young. He had been a Principal and involved in the school system for many years and many of the people we met this weekend he had either taught or they worked with him. He grew up in an era that kids respected their elders, you never talked back to your parents, and you always helped out around the house.

My Mom told the story about he and another Uncle that were in the Navy and had not seen each other in at least a year because they were both at sea. She said that Carroll, the one that passed away, his ship had run out of water. They only had water to drink and barely any of that. They called for assistance and met up with an aircraft carrier near them. Well, low and behold, it was the aircraft carrier that his older brother Julian was on. They tied up together and the boys on the aircraft carrier threw a party for the boys on the other ship. Julian knew his brother was aboard the other ship and he boarded her to find his brother he had not seen in at least a year. When he found him poor Carroll looked a mess. Julian told him he would have to shave and shower before he board his ship. (with a laugh of course) How is that for a story? Two brothers meeting each other in the middle of the ocean serving on two different ships and in the middle of a war.
My dear Uncle Carroll you will be missed.