CHARLES!...CHARLES!...CHARLES!!!

Girls

As I shared with you a few days ago...Trudy let us know that Charles Story had passed away unexpectedly. You all mentioned that you remembered him even though it had been many years since you had last seen him...outside of an occasional photo. Jaime shared she remembered him at the Owensville Watermelon Festival years ago, when he won the watermelon eating contest. (He later shared that he may not have eaten as much as he was given credit for...but I digress).

Mom and I still giggle about a story that Brady & Tim shared with us long ago. Charles' father (and uncles too I think) were in the home construction business and Charles, and his brothers Bobby and Clyde were also a part of the business. As I recall the story, Charles was on the 2nd floor of a home they were building and Charles was using a saw to cut off some of the two-by-fours (or 2x12's...whatever). Anyway, Charles' father was reminding Charles that there were some nails in some of the boards so be careful that he didn't cut through the nails as it would ruin the sawblade. Without fail, Charles cut through one or more of the nails, ruining the sawblade, and the next commotion was Charles' dad shouting, "Charles...Charles...Charles". To add extra humor to this story, you have to remember it was being told by the wonderful story-teller, Brady, so imagine those words repeated to us in Brady's southern drawl and his body language antics. 

Now a story that we probably haven't told you, is that I went down the summer of 1972 after high school graduation and before I started college in the fall and worked on Charles' construction crew with Brady, Tim, and their friend Mike. One of our main jobs was to dig the footers for many of the houses in the addition they owned. Footers are the 2-3 foot-wide trenches that you dig around the perimeter of the house to be built. That trench is then filled with concrete and forms the support for the outer walls of the house. (Brady, years later, moved into one of those houses and of course Charles & Sylvia's beautiful home was in that addition, and we helped dig their footers.) 

I think Charles paid me $2.25 an hour (which was good wages in 1972). I saved up most of the money from that summer job and came home and mom & I went to a wholesale store and bought the engagement ring and wedding rings that we would use two years later when we got married. I can thank Charles for his willingness to hire me that summer and little did he know, his wages would contribute to a relationship that celebrated 48 years of marriage a few months ago.

Charles was a good man to mom and me and will always be remembered for his kindness, friendliness, singing and laughter. We would hope that Charles may Rest In Peace.

REMEMBER: Notice when you are happy, and think at some point, "If this isn't nice, I don't know what is. - Kurt Vonnegut

Be talkin' to ya.

Dad