It is a sad part of life that when you get into your later years, as I am now, you have to start saying good-bye to so many you have loved for so long a time. Only three months after I retired did I have to bid farewell to my mother unexpectedly on 30 Jan 2010, only to be followed by her husband forty-five days later on 15 Mar 2010. In May we laid to rest my dear wife's ebullient sister, Reyna after a long and painful bout with colon cancer. The very next month we had to bury my younger cousin, Dennis who died from a heart attack. In case you were not keeping track, that was four deaths in less than six months.
Today at 7:15 am, 28 Jan 2012, my uncle Harold left us to go back home to that God who gave him life. He suffered for three weeks in a hospital bed after heart surgery. He lived a full and happy life enjoying his craft and hobbies. He loved his family.
My mother's brothers are a close knit family. It will be hard for them, especially since he went 'out of order' being a younger brother. He was the fourth child and second to die of the adult children 'out of order'; my mom being the first. He was the only brother not to have moved out of the state, and missed his brothers sorely. Now, they will miss him.
No one could match uncle Harold's craftsmanship. Whatever job he took on he mastered it and produced magnificent results to the smallest detail. He was a master automobile restorer and could paint a car to the finest quality. He even did his own upholstery work in the cars he restored. He built model airplanes and made a gorgeous R/C replica of the famous WWII P-38 pursuit plane, the Lockheed "Lightning". He even hand crafted the exhaust turbines that powered the turbochargers so that they would spin just as they did on the real fighters. In every detail the plane looked real, only miniature.
He was a tireless worker and hated idleness. You could seldom catch him not doing something either for himself or a family member. Retirement bored him, so he went back to work as an engineer in the high rises downtown L.A. They finally had to 'run' him off to force him to retire and take care of himself (health). Industry was uncle Harold's life long motto.
He served God in whatever calling he was asked to serve in, and was a faithful temple worker aiding those seeking eternal blessings and bonding for themselves and others in the Lord's Holy Temple. His crowning achievement is nothing more important than that of his family. No one receives a crown of glory without that. Family always mattered to him, and he will always matter to us.
Good bye Uncle Harold. You will be missed. We are looking forward to being with you once again in our Heavenly Father's home.
Saturday, January 28, 2012
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