UNCLE SACK

Eulogy For a Used Car Salesman

A fellar I knew died last week. He was nobody special. He never set the world on fire. He was just a used car salesman...a regular guy, like you and me. But I knew him and I thought his life might offer up a lesson or two.

This young fellar was born in 1919 in Houston, Texas. He was a pleasant man, civil and easy to get along with. He was a good and constant friend. Everywhere he went, he made new friends, and when circumstances changed, and he and his family had to move away, he stayed in touch with those folks.

In his life, he cared about a lot of people...and they cared about him.

He served in the Army Air Corps as a radio operator during World War II. He wasn’t a war hero or anything...just a guy that liked radios.

He had a life-long love affair with electronics and ham radio. His wife and children grew up hearin’ his call letters ever mornin.’ In this way, he made friends all over the world.

I remember how surprised I was the day I heard him talkin' with King Hussein of Jordan over that ham radio. After all, he was just a car salesman.

Here’s a story to let you know how important ham radio was to this old boy.

His health went down hill rapidly in the last six months of his life. He was forced to leave his home because of his health problems. His heart was actin’ up. The second time they put him in the hospital, I walked up just as he was bein’ admitted. A male nurse was there askin’ questions about his care and when he was done, he asked, “Is there anything else we can get you?”

“Yeah,” says this old boy, “I need to meet some more ham operators in Brenham.”

So, here’s a guy who’s life is in danger and the thing he is most worried about is finding some ham buddies in a new town.

Well, let me tell you, that nurse stuck his hand out and gave my friend his call letters. Turns out he was the president of the local Ham club.

That old car salesman was pretty good at makin’ new friends.

When he came back from the World War II, he met a Northern beauty up in New Jersey. In 1947, they were married. There marriage was a long and fruitful one. They raised up six children.

This old boy claimed that people were constantly askin’ if he and his wife was Catholic.

He would just chuckle and reply…”No, we’re just oversexed Presbyterians.”

That feller and his wife loved one another. Times were not always easy, but he and his sweetheart did what they had to do so their kids could have a good life. He wrote a few ad jingles and sold a few cars. They worked hard all their lives but he never made much of a success in business.

But, he and his wife worked hard to build a close knit family, and at that, they were successful. They drummed the importance of family into the heads of their children. When them kids was married off, the in-laws was adopted into the family just like they was born into it. Before long, that family was adoptin’ people who wasn’t related by either blood or marriage. New sisters and brothers, and cousins and aunts and uncles were coming to family occasions...none of them connected by marriage or blood...just close friends of one family member or another. And people wanted to be included. There was so much love, so much intimacy and trust in that family, that people just gravitated towards it. They saw the welcome mat that fellar and his wife placed in front of the door into their family. It look inviting, so they just came on in.

Then, after most of their children were off and on their own, that old used car salesman's wife was diagnosed with breast cancer. The family was devastated. She had always been the rock that everyone leaned on.

Now, this fellar and his wife had a close marriage but it was a traditional one. He earned the money and she did almost everything else. When she got sick, their children had some question that their dad would be able to switch roles and become the nursemaid and nurturer. After all, he had never had to do it in his whole life.

But, they shouldn’t have worried. That old boy stayed with his girl every step of the way. He never let her down. He did the dirty work, feedin’ her and cleanin’ her and running her around from doctor to doctor. It was a hard, bitter couple of years, but he backed off and he never quit. He was her nurse and her best friend and her champion until the day that she died.

They say that what goes around comes around... that if you do a deed, good or bad, it will return to you, and in the end, that old car salesman’s devotion and loyalty was repaid.

In his last years, he was lucky enough to find another special love. His new girl stood by him through thick and thin, just as he had stood by his first wife. She stayed his friend and helper until he passed on through into a better world.

Some folks think you got to make big things happen in this world to be a success. You got to be rich or famous or important. This old boy was none of that. He didn’t accumulate a lot of material things in his lifetime. Family was always first for him. What he had, he gave to his children.

So, when he died, he didn’t have a lot of money. But that don’t mean he died a poor man. It don’t mean that he died leavin’ nothing to his children. Truth is, there were a few things in his estate that anybody would have been glad to own.

He left behind a family that had love to spare. He left a family full of folks who could share their feelin’s. He left a family that knew they could count on each other, a family that shared a bond of trust, a family who looked out for one another.

That old used car salesman raised a family that was so rich in love and compassion, that it could weather hard times and still find room to share that wealth with others.

They say you know a man by his fruit. If that is true, then that lovin’ family was the fruit of that old boy. It was his wealth, his riches, and his legacy.

And now, his kids are rich, ‘cause they’ve raised up lovin' families too. They’re blessed with the same bounty that made their papa wealthy... and equally blessed are all his grandchildren, and all of the friends and adopted family that were enriched by the example he set.

So you see, that old boy died a rich man...and there is a bountiful estate for his heirs to divide.

Money and material things are easy to find. Love is the real treasure in life.

In his life, that old used car salesman left a treasure buried in many a heart.

Round Top Register - Texas Fun Travel Guide