The World Lost a Wonderful Man Yesterday

I'll be taking a few days off this week from posting. Yesterday, my Father In Law passed away.  Clark was an amazing man.  Although he was my husband's step-father he was more like a father to him.   He taught him to hunt and fish at a young age.  Even after my husband and I got married and moved away, Jeff would travel back to Kentucky to go hunting with him every year around Thanksgiving.

When my girls were old enough, they would go spend a week in Kentucky with Nana and Daddy Clark (as all the grandchildren called him).  A trip to Red's Donuts during their stay was a highlight of their week.  Sometimes he would get them up early in the morning to take them fishing.   He would do just about anything for those girls.

Clark was an avid Kentucky Basketball fan.  You rarely saw him wearing something other than Blue & White with Kentucky on it somewhere.    His favorite thing to do was tell jokes.  No one was a stranger if there was a joke to tell.   Sometimes he would call up just to tell us a funny joke he just heard that day.  He loved The Far Side and looked forward to the new Far Side calendar each year at Christmas.

Nana and Daddy Clark spent many Christmas Eve's with us.  They loved to come and watch the girls open their presents.  We'd pass the presents out and Daddy Clark would pile up all his presents by his chair. We'd take turns opening.  But it never failed, when everyone was finished unwrapping, he'd say "Well looky here!  I've got another one to open".   He wanted to make sure he had the last present to open.

Christmas cookies were his favorite.  I always made a special Christmas tin of cookies just for him.   He'd pour himself a tall glass of milk and eat the cookies.  

Clark loved to work with wood.  He spent many hours out in his garage building things.  Wooden pull toys, froggy steps for the bathroom and more.  He built a toy box for my daughter when she was born.  He built a big Blue & White UK box for our window.  It had Blue and White bulbs in the shape of a U and K. He wanted to make sure everyone here in big VOL country knew which side we were on!  

Several years ago, Clark was diagnosed with Parkinson's.  He did not let that get him down.   Clark was a dentist and he practiced as long as possible and then retired.  But he continued to hunt and fish every chance he got.   Sometimes a hunting buddy would come over and help him get ready.  It might take him hours to get all his hunting clothes on but he was determined not let his disease stop him from doing what he loved.   He had many friends that made sure he was able to keep going as long as possible.  Through it all, Clark's faith in God stayed strong.

Although I know Clark is in a better place now, we'll all miss him very much.  I know that he walked straight and tall with steady hands to the gates of Heaven.   And you can bet he had a joke ready for Peter when he let him in.

God Bless You Daddy Clark - You'll forever be in our hearts.

NOTE: I do have my Stamp of the Month Blog Hop scheduled to post on Nov 1 so be sure to check back then.