Said Goodby to Bob This Week-end
Bob was a three striper marine with 2 tours of Viet Nam under his belt. He was a life member of just about every gun and hunter organization you can imagine. He owned more weapons than anyone I've ever met and knew more about each one than anyone has a right to know. He's fired enough ammo in his life to build a battleship. He was also a pretty good father and a pretty decent guy. I've known Bob for over 35 years. Not nearly long enough.
Bob was married to my wife's cousin so both of us were outsiders in the outlaw clan. A distinction we both had a bit of fun with from time to time. We were generally on the same side when it came time to offer up some good natured ribbing.
We learned last year that Bob had lung cancer. A disease self inflicted after many years of smoking and probably helped along by working in a coal fired power plant. Like the good sergeant he was he didn't cut the disease any slack. But in the end it was not to be. Bob passed on Thursday evening last week after a long and hard fought battle. His funeral was yesterday. He was just 63.
Whenever Bob would leave his greeting was always, "Simper Fi, Carry on". Since I had never earned that right, my response was always, "See you later". You didn't have to hear it more than once to just know it fit him. He just looked like a marine. He even sounded like one when he wanted to, which was almost always in some funny way.
He was also forever saying, "Pay attention. They're will be a test." As long as I've known him he would throw that out once or twice during your meeting. At the funeral, one of his daughters told me she asked him once when the test would be. "You're always saying it but I've never had a test." He told her that life was the test. You get tested every day. That's the kind of man Bob was. I'm genuinely sorry to see him go.
So, just once for you Bob. Simper Fi, Carry on my friend.
