My Uncle Joe Died

My Uncle Joe died this week. He was my mother's last surviving sibling. He had lymphoma for several years.

That said I want to say a few things about this man. He was a farmer, but his farm was not large enough to generate enough income to support his family, so he took on other jobs: rural mail carrier and school bus driver. The thing is these were jobs his community needed to have done, and he would have done them, if no one else stepped forward to do them. He was that way; if something needed to be done, he did it, and he would not necessarily expect any compensation.

He was also the family peace maker. He worked very hard to keep harmony in a family known for quick tempers and long memories. He was deeply hurt when the family of his middle brother stopped him from visiting him in the brother's final days.

While he quiet in final year, he would call my mother every couple of weeks just to see how she was doing. He was like that even when he was hurting very bad.

The thing he did for me was he taught me to drive. I was never good at that skill, which is why I stopped, when I got to a location with adequate public transportation. He had the patients to let me make all the mistakes I needed.

Uncle a lot people miss you already. Good bye.