My Uncle David

 1 3 2022

My Uncle David died tonight. My heart is broken. He was my Mom's younger brother. 82 years old.

When I was just five, he asked me if I wanted to ride in an airplane. At the time he was a CFI, Certified Flight Instructor with Spartan Aviation in Tulsa. It thrilled me, this idea of flying. It quickly turned to dread as he fired the engine and we began to taxi. But, it was a harbinger of things to come for me. In 1996 when I had put a little money together I began to realize my dream of flying. It was because of Uncle David I loved airplanes.

When I was a child I began to draw WWII era fighter planes and I became fairly proficient at it. It was Uncle David that gave me a love for these high performance planes. On the wall of his house there were two paintings of Spitfires. They inspired me.

As a small child I used to love to ride in the car with Uncle David. He had an Austin Healy, then a 1967 GTO. When I was in grad school he had a 1979 Corvette. Yes, I drive a sports car today. Yes, it was his influence on me that caused me to love a sports car.

When I graduated with my Masters Degree from TCU, Uncle David took me to Nieman Marcus and bought me a $400 overcoat, in 1984 dollars. He believed I would need that overcoat and that I would need to look professional, and he was proud of me. I did need that overcoat in the Kentucky winters. I did need to look professional, and though that coat no longer fits me (it's a size 36) I still have it to this day. The gift itself matters to me. It means something to me that he did that. I will possess that coat until the day I am called to the life beyond. 

I am crushed tonight. He was my light. He was my example. Now he rests eternally with his mother and father and his sister, my beloved Mom. There is only slight consolation in this. COVID destroyed his ability to breathe, to live, to hope at all. Through many dangers, toils and snares he had already come, but this one was too much. My heart is crushed.

There is so much more I could write and say about Uncle David. He meant the world to me. That's all that really matters.

Peace and Love,

Jerry