The last sibling in my Mom’s family, Uncle Gene, passed away recently at the age of 92. He was quite the character and the subject of several previous blogs that are republished below in his memory. May he rest in peace and deepest sympathy to his family.
Uncle Gene
My uncle Gene called me recently from his home in Sun City, Florida, where he lives with his lovely wife Pat pictured above. It was a beautiful night here in SW Florida, so he called just as the sun was setting. Uncle Gene is 92 years young and is my mother’s younger brother. He's the little guy on the right side of the bench in this 1937 family photo. My mother is in the back row, third from the left. Mom was 20 and Gene was 8.
Gene is in good health and as always, was in great spirits. He is the only family member in the photo still living, so he represents the last connection to my mother. I really enjoy the stories he tells about growing up on the farm in St. Patrick's. He told me his nickname for my mother was Mom, Jr. as she was the designated baby sitter for Gene and his younger brother Pat seated on the left end of the bench.
Here they are riding a horse drawn sled in 1943. The two youngsters would be given their weekly bath by my mother, and Gene recalls always imploring my mother that he really wasn’t that dirty and could hold off on the bath for another week. But Mom, Jr did not relent so into the tub he went.
On one of his visits, he also brought back his golf clubs, which us kids enjoyed whacking the ball around the farm yard. I was hooked on golf from that moment on as described in this blog. Years later, after retiring and moving to Sun City, Gene would host an annual golf outing for any relatives visiting Florida over the winter. He’d meticulously plan every phase of the weekend-long event, including the grand finale at the local Sun City German restaurant to celebrate a fun-filled weekend and our German heritage. Any of his nieces attending would be given special treatment, as literally he told every one of them multiple times, and still does to this day, that each was his favorite. Nephews not so much, especially when it came to golf competition!
Gene’s team always seemed to win as evidenced by these photos. What a ringer!
There was one year when I did take Gene's money, fortunately having been paired up with his wife Pat.
As the old saying goes, gambling money has no home - except in Gene’s pocket. Now you get some sense of why dad’s nickname for Gene was Slick!
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Tuesday, January 15, 2019Band of Brothers
Band of Brothers - 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
My uncle Gene and his six brothers were honored recently with a commemorative brick in the newly dedicated Veterans Memorial Park in Sun City, Florida, where uncle Gene lives and my uncle Tony is buried.
The brick shown below in a larger photo, recognized the seven brothers for their services during WWII and the Korean War.
Three of uncle Tony’s grown children were able to also attend the dedication and are pictured below with uncle Gene.
This is a blow-up of the framed newspaper article about the brothers (and one brother-in-law) shown in the photo.
Here are some previous tributes to our greatest generation:
Most read blogpost about Okinawa veteran Vernie Hoying:
Veterans Day 2015:
Rosie The Riveter:
Even though I’ve written many times about my uncles who served in the armed forces, our gratitude can never be expressed adequately enough to atone for the sacrifices they and all veterans have made to fight for the cherished freedom we all enjoy.
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