In Rememberance

Today my uncle, Clarence Casey, passed away. He was 74 years old. As I mentioned in my previous entry, he suffered a stroke on Wednesday evening - - from which he did not recover. He was married to my Aunt Shirley for 53 years. What can I say about him? I knew him my whole life, of course, and one of the earliest things that I remember about him is that he was friendly to us kid. As a kid, you know which adults pay attention to you and which don't. Uncle Clarence was one of the ones that did. And that meant a lot. He was friendly, he was fun, he was always someone you could have a good chat with about Boston sports. He drove 18-wheelers for many, many years which did a number on his hearing so we always knew to talk loudly around him. Even though he worked in what I would call a "manly" profession that didn't stop him from helping in the kitchen. Aunt Wanda said that he did all the dishes when he was at her house a few weeks ago. Duncan and I were chuckling about how he would drive with two feet and how he seemed to think that he was still in a truck when he was on the road - - he would be right on people's tails.

The truth is, you never know when it will be the last time you see someone. Just two weeks ago, we were all at Aunt Wanda's for lunch after church. Uncle Clarence and Aunt Shirley were there. I didn't get much of a chance to talk to Uncle Clarence as I was distracted by making food and watching Calleigh but Duncan did talk to him for awhile. He hadn't been golfing (one of this favorite hobbies) in quite some time but told Duncan that he had been doing a lot of bowling. Aunt Shirley told me the next day that he had gotten a big kick out of the fact that Calleigh could say "I don't like the Yankees." As I look back on that visit, I'm trying to remember if I gave him a hug goodbye. If only I had known it would be for the last time. I would have used that opportunity to tell him how much I loved him and how he was such an important part of our family. You really just don't know.

Very sadly, I won't be able to attend his memorial service which is on Tuesday afternoon in Clearwater. I feel terrible that I won't be able to be with the family and share in all the fond rememberances and funny stories. I won't be there to officially say farewell. So I'm using this time to express my thoughts and shed my tears. Aunt Shirley, if you ever read this, I just want you to know how highly I thought of Uncle Clarence. You married a wonderful man who was loved by so many. He was a terrific uncle and although I didn't get to see him all that much over the last few years, I will really miss him. I still can't believe he's gone...