Brother Luke’s 60th Birthday - Dave’s Midwestern Ohio Memories

A Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s.

Brother Luke’s 60th Birthday

Our family recently celebrated my brother Luke’s 60th birthday. As the youngest member of our family, he was likely an “oops” baby as Mom was over 40 at the time. But it was the best “accident” that ever happened, as without him, I would have no brother, meaning all the good times we’ve had together over the years would be for naught. I was 9 at the time of his birth, and told Mom and Dad if they had another girl, to just leave her at the hospital. Whenever Luke would misbehave as a child (and still to this day!), we always claimed he was switched at birth with the baby sister Mom never brought home.

If you look closely at the above photo of Luke taken at his birthday party, you’ll see that he is missing his ring finger on his left hand. This accident occurred years ago when his wedding ring got caught on the rack of a stake bed truck as he was jumping off! Ouch, indeed. Check out this recent photo of him making fun of his missing finger.

As depicted on his 60th birthday cake and on his shirt above, Luke loves motorcycles, having taken trips all over the country. He recently graduated to a three-wheeled trike Harley that provides a little more stability in his “old age”. His Harley Club does wonderful charitable work around the area holding poker runs throughout the year to raise money for the needy. The photo below shows Luke in “jail”; held there until all of his friends and family bailed him out by making a donation to the cause. We delayed our contributions just long enough so he’d have to stew in the clink overnight.

Luke is an avid OSU fan and for years, he would travel up to Ann Arbor where we would attend the big game together between the Buckeyes and Wolverines as pictured below of him enjoying a halftime snack at the Big House in 2011.

Hard to believe, but he never witnessed the Bucks win a game there as all those trips were made during the era before the arrival of coaches Tressel and Meyer. The string of losses made him so mad that he vowed never to set foot in Ann Arbor again, which was doubly reinforced after his final game witnessing another Bucks loss. We were eating at a local restaurant and Michigan Coach Lloyd Carr and his entire staff showed up and sat at the table next to us to celebrate the Wolverines' big win. His boycott of Ann Arbor, Luke claims, is the real reason the Bucks have not lost there in recent years! I keep inviting him up, but no go. To put our friendly rivalry in perspective, note in the family photo below taken at our Dad’s funeral in 2008 that Luke is wearing a scarlet and grey tie and mine is maze and blue.

Happy Birthday, Luke! Thanks for all the great times and wonderful memories.