My dad was a survivor.
He and his brother Dewey(Gus)
grew up on the streets
of Washington, D.C.
during the depression.
Gus, Helen(Mom), and Al
Baltimore 1953
He contracted Rocky
Mountain Spotted Fever,
Rheumatic Fever, and Malaria
from swimming in the
Potomac River.
He survived Hurricane Dan in 1997.
Growing up in my
dad's world was tough.
The stories he told
revealed a childhood
unlike any of us
have ever known.
My dad appreciated
and took pride
in the things he owned
that had been hard
to come by
early on in his life.'
It helps us to realize
just how good we really
do have it.
I know I'm partial,but
I believe my dad was
one of the smartest men
of his era.
He taught me so many things.
He believed a man's car
was his horse, and you had
to take care of your horse
or you'd be walking.
Me and Dad's T Bird(Horse)
He must have walked
a thousand miles in
his younger days.
The places he went,
and the things he saw
were often told in such a way
it made you feel you were there.
I will keep those stories
close to my heart forever.
He lived life doing
what he wanted.
He knew how to have fun.
To know him was to love him,
and everybody did.
He had such a charm about him.
He was known mostly as Gramps,
a special nickname given to him
by my children,
but used by everybody
from that point on.
Al enjoyed life,
loved his family,
and appreciated the beauty
in things that many of us overlook.
My dad had a great sense of humor---which he often directed
at telemarketers.
He was known for
giving great advice, and
was an expert on most topics.
He loved to listen
to talk radio,
and was considered to
be conservative in his views.
He was a history buff,
terrific with geography,
and a genious
with crossword puzzles.
He also was a great cook.
Some of our best memoriesare of the many beach trips we took
I can't count the number
of vacations we spent
enjoying crab legs,
and pina coladas.
My dad loved
playing the Florida Lotto.
He was convinced he would
win one day.
We all hoped he would
.
Al loved animals, but especially dogs.
He always found
an opportunity to bring
one a special treat.
Every dog that
my husband and I
have owned in our
26 years of marriage
loved my Dad ,
as much,
probably more
than they loved us.
Animals can tell
when people have a kind spirit.
In early 2006, my dad assisted me
and my friend, Janet in the rescue
operation of 16 puppies. My dad
adopted one of them,naming him
BANDIT.
He already owned four other dogs
and he certainly didn't need another,
but he fell in love with Bandit,
and was trying to help me
since we had so many to find
homes for.
Bandit was quite
mischievious.
Mere weeks
before my dad died, he told
me we had to find Bandit another
home, and I knew then that
something was wrong.
It wasn't easy, but Bandit finally
got a great home on a farm with
horses and cows and my DAD
was able to see that dream
come true before he died.
2006 was a terrible year.
Right before Valentines day ,
on February 12th ,
my stepmother's mother
passed away.
Mee Maw was a sweet soul,
and loved by anyone
who had the pleasure to meet her.
Memorial weekend brought more bad news.
My husband's
father passed away at
the age of 73
unexpectedly from
complications of cancer.
He was a remarkable man
that raised a houseful of kids
that weren't his own.
My dad thought that
Paw Paw was the hardest
working man he'd ever met .
He was.
PAW PAW AND DAD
My dad had reunited with J.B.,
a childhood friend
several years earlier.
They had not seen or spoken
to each other for nearly 60 years.
The internet brought them
together and they did
meet face to face eventually.
They had several years to catch
up on things, but in June of 2006,
JB died, unexpectedly
from cirrhosis of the liver.
JB and Tiffany
Our summer beach trip in 2006
was cut short due to the death
of a close friend of the family,
Christy Burton.
She was a
childhood friend of my
daughter and her parents
are our friends.
She was only 21 and had
just began to live her life
when it was cut short
by kidney cancer.
On July 4th, Donald
and Aleesa Burton
had to make a decision
no one should have to make.
They had to turn off her ventilator.
No one should lose a child.
DAD AND CHRISTY
Like I said before,
My Dad was a
member of a generation
that is dying off.
There will never
be another like it.
2oo6 took 3 of the best MEN
from our lives.
I daily remind my son Brandon
to be like his Gramps
and his Paw Paw.
They are both great men to
model their lives from.
The world is not the same
without them.
My dad raised me on his own and I owe everything I am to him.
He made me who I am today
and I will never forget him.
He took on the task of raising
me at a time when most
men would have walked away.
St Paul's Cathedral... my first communion
We have been an
inseparable pair my whole life,
and I am lost without him.
When I was twelve my dad
married Deborah Hudson
and they had two sons
Robert and Curtis.
My dad had hoped a mother
would complete our life.
My two brothers,
Robert and Curtis
are two of the most
remarkable
and intelligent men,
besides our dad, that
I have ever known---
geniouses actually.
I know my dad is proud of
them and their accomplishments.
Robert is a math professor
at Young Harris University
in Georgia.
He has a wife and three
beautiful children.
Curtis just started his Law
practice
after passing the bar
exam in early 2007.
See, I told you my dad was smart.
That terrible day
Thanksgiving was just barely a week away and I had
begun preparations for
a holiday season full of
events that included
Thanksgiving,
our daughter's college graduation,
and of course Christmas.
Tiffany would be home
for the holidays ,
as would Robert
and his family from Georgia.
November 14th I had escorted
my dad to see his heart doctor.
Al had been having "spells",
refusing to go to the ER,
or any doctor
for several weeks.
He was hard headed
and insisted that he wait
to see what Dr Maloof would say.
Dr Maloof didn't offer
any explanations, but ordered
bloodwork to be done two days later.
The lab technician was gone
for the day
and I had to work
the next day.
We made plans to be
back on Thursday.
The next morning I got a call
while I was at work from
my stepmother,
that my dad had
slumped over the kitchen table,
and would not wake up.
I told her to call 911.
I arrived within minutes
to see the paramedics taking
him out on the stretcher,
and my last words to him were
'' YOU'VE GOTTA SNAP
OUTTA THIS , DAD'.
The paramedics didn't appear
to be in much of a hurry.
Their actions spoke volumes
of what my heart already knew.
My whole life I had one fear
losing my dad
At UAB hospital, We waited for someone to tell us that
my daddy would be ok,
But good news never came
A doctor came in and told us
that they tried to revive him,
but couldn't.
I already knew
My biggest fear had taken place and I had to accept
the fact he was gone.
How can you lose your daddy?
I know that he died
at exactly 8:33 am.
My dad always said he
didn't want to have to depend
on someone to take care
of him ,although I would have
until the breath left my own body.
I told him the day
before that he should
come to my house for awhile.
Somehow, I could help
He wouldn't.
I know in my heart that my dad had lost hope after
Dr Maloof seemed
to offer no hope
or explanations for why
he was feeling the way he was.
I have been told that
he knew his time was running out,
but he didn't want me to know.
Curtis said Al waited
to make sure everybody
would be ok before he left.
He was right.
My dad loved Thanksgiving.
That year he would
have celebrated
his 75th birthday on it,
but he didn't make it.
My heart was broken that day
into a thousand pieces that
can never be put back together.
I am not the same person I was
and I never will be.
Dad ... there is nothing
that can separate us,
not time nor space.
My love for you crosses
all boundaries between
Heaven and Earth
for all eternity.
I await the day when we are reunited .
I don't know that date,
but it WILL come.
Til then I spend each day
- pushing on like you'd want me to.
I have learned so much
since your passing.
I will never get over losing you,
but I know that you would
not want me to mope around.
I can almost hear
you say" Gee Bridge".
This website has brought
so many of us
in the same situation together,
to understand
what is happening,
and to be there for one another.
To give hope
and encouragement
to each other
when things seem hopeless.
The people in these forums
are a part of my family now.
This is me with Mary Sill. She is the daughter of angel Edward Belonga. Mary and her family traveled from Tennessee to our luau on June 7 2008... our first meeting
The following passage was given to me by the family of one of my patients
"We pass through this life but one time,
what we make of it and of ourselves
is what's remembered to those we leave behind."
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