Toyomafia - The Clubhouse. 151.880

Sorry for your loss. Expected or not, it is still a tough thing to go through. My family and I will be thinking about you and yours and sending positive thoughts your way.

 

Oh damn brother. Truly hate to hear this as well. We are sorry for your loss and be thinking of you and yours as you get through this. Also sending positive thoughts your way from me and mine.

 

I'm so sorry for your loss

 

Sorry for your loss Andy, my dad had Parkinson’s for 16 years before he passed, it’s tough to see what it does to them. Take care Andy. You and your family are in my thoughts and prayers.

 

Sorry for your loss. It's never easy no matter what the circumstances are. Here's to hoping 2023 is a better year for your family and you.

 

Must be a whiskey thing.

 

No....but yes

 

This guy gets it

 

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thanks guys. Long day, but we made progress sorting things out. Helps Dad had preapprovals for internment at the Vets Cemetery. 100% free took a big load off the financial stress.

 

That helps. Still tough to deal with. I hope the wife and kids are doing ok.

 

I think losing her father just over a year ago is helping us all deal with this a little better.

 

So sorry to hear. Even if you know it's coming, and in some ways is a relief, it's never easy when it happens. Stay strong my friend.

 

I lost my dad when I was 28. I didn’t know it then but it’s helped me deal with the loss of many since then. It’s been 16 years and I still think of him all the time it’s just not as sad as it used to be.

 

Pre-approval is so much a load off. My Dad, a Marine aviator, had everything planned out. His ashes were buried at sea off the Oregon coast by the Coast Guard. No family present except my Mom. Highschool sweethearts. I was watching my two quite younger brothers. Our Pastor had a private memorial a week later with all of us present on our ranch. An Evergreen tree was planted. My brothers were 11 and 9. Still sucks. My Dad was only 51. I feel for you Andy and your family. So sorry. Never a good time to pass. Xmas Eve....dang Andy. We got you.....

 

So sorry Andy.

 

I still remember my Mom said she got seasick. Oregon coast can be dicey most of the time. Crazy what you can remember from so long ago......

 

Sorry for your loss Brother...

 

We’ll, at least I’m finding interesting stuff. Going through a bin of his military mementos, I stumbled across these pieces of the Berlin Wall

 

That's very cool! My father was stationed in Bad Kreuznach, West Germany in the early 1960s. I was born over there and we came back to the States when I was 2 years old. I don't remember anything from Germany but my sister's do. My mom had some pretty knarly stories about the wall when people would try to climb the wall on the east side to get to the west side of the wall. Pretty crazy stuff going on back then.

 

It would be interesting to hear a little about his service time and maybe a couple of stories if you get to a point where you feel like sharing.

 

Both of my Dads parents were 1st Gen American who’s families immigrated from Germany. He was happy to have a deployment there, to see where his family came from, and it not only occurred during the time where the wall was being torn down, but go to meet cousins that had been trapped on the east side.

 

That's some cool family history, and the significance of those items seems extra special viewed through that lens. Very cool, Andy. Thank you for sharing.

 

Easy, he served in the MA Air National Guard full time( not weekends only). He served from 64-05, then a civilian commission from 07-09 to facilitate the conversion of A-10s to F-15s. He worked on the f-86, f-84, f-100, A-10(his specialty) and F-15s.

He was rated one of the foremost experts on A-10 repair and served a stint in the Pentagon during Desert Storm.

His unit deployed to support missions for Kosovo and Bosnia. During the Bosnia missions, they were stationed in Sicily, where he befriended the “Don”of the city they were in. He received a yearly bottle of wine until the Don(wish I could remember his name) passed a few years ago.

During the beginning stages of OIF, he was the second oldest NCO deployed at age 59, the oldest was 5 days older.

With a long career on the base, he had some pull. During an Air show press day, he got me a ride in the Thunderbirds 2 seater they take the press up in. The pilot kicked my ass and I puked in my mask/blacked out. On the plus side we went out for beers later.


I’m sure some more will come to me

 

You weren't kidding; more than 4 decades of service!!!!

Seems like he lived a very purposefully driven life with more than just a few adventures/accomplishments under his belt! I'm sure you are incredibly proud of him. Thank you for sharing a glimpse of his career and life with us

 

#THIS
Lost my wife’s father in 2015. It’s only been 7 years, but this is exactly it. It’s things like hearing him laughing at something stupid you just did, or hearing the words he would have used to call someone out for being a dumbass, or being at a family gathering and expecting to look over and see him grinning at the shenanigans. It’s still bittersweet, but there’s more sweet than bitter.

 

That is so fucking cool…

 

A little irony in my family. My parents were full blood Amercan traceable back to the Constitution. They grew up in Johnson County Texas. I was born a U.S. citizen born abroad in Germany.

My wife's parents were from Westfalia, Germany. Her dad was 5 years old when Hitler was elected Chancellor of Austria and he remembers the out of control inflation. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1957 at 23 years of age. He gained his U.S. citizenship in 1968.

Her mother was a few years younger and was orphaned when her parents died while working in the factories making ammunition for the SS Army. Her mother died from lead poisoning as a result. She immigrated to the U.S. in 1949 at 8 years of age when her aunt adopted her. She gained her citizenship in 1962.

My wife's mother and father were married in 1967 and my wife, and their only child, was born in 1971. My wife is the first U.S. born citizen in her entire family.

 

Well then he had to know my Uncle then. We will circle back privately about this. My uncle flew A-10s for a full career and that’s a tight group.

 

Sounds like a hell of a man with a life well lived.

Sorry for your loss.