My father always told me stories about growing up in Lisbon. From playing army with his friends all day to hitting a baseball and breaking a stained glass window of the church on the corner and running away…. He loved telling me about the small town life where you could knock on any door and someone would know your name and take you in.
His two favorite memories are pitching against his father’s little league team. His dad was coaching on first base and jawing him all game (lovingly) but my father made it his mission to pitch a great game and beat his father’s team. He did. He was overjoyed and dropped everything to run straight home to tell his sister and mother that he won. My dad taught his dad golf and he would always tell me with a smile about when his father would hit a bad shot and would bang his clubs on the ground. He respected and loved him very much.
The second story he always talked about was when he was the starting point guard (#15 in the picture) of the historic 1970 Lisbon basketball team. For a small town they made a very deep run that year and between the team’s spaghetti dinners the night before a game and the excitement of the caravan of cars following the team bus it seemed like one the best times of his life. He always told me it was just like the movie Hoosiers.
For me personally I was very close to my father. In Georgia between 2006 and 2018 my father and I played 41 seasons of doubles tennis together. We always had dinner after the match and we talked about life (and afterlife) often. I could’t have been closer too another human being and he would say the same.
He battled and fought many health problems over the years and never gave up even at the end. His doctors always said he wouldn’t last long yet he kept fighting and even outlived some of his doctors. His perseverance was astonishing.
My father was a class act and lived his life “like a boy-scout.”
I am so happy I had him as a father and wouldn’t change a thing.
His belief was that all the people in his life are all apart of the same tribe and we will all be together again in some way.
Rest easy dad you did your job.
Love you always,
Joshua
