A tribute page to my uncle... who was like a dad to me.... No, he was my dad.

I was holding him when he died... and a huge piece of me died that day too... July 3, 2006 7:25PM

Please understand that this is hard for me ... but as time goes by I'll be able to add to this area.
I can only work on it until I get overwhelmed with his loss... I miss him so much.

I have to say I never knew I could hurt so much.  Sometimes I can't even breathe.

Bake, this is for you.... "Thanks for ALWAYS being there for me..."
I wrote that on the card I sent him for Father's Day... I found it
opened, on his desk.  I hope it made him smile... he collapsed the
next day.

This was Jim on the last boat he and Donabea had... after they fixed it all up they
gave it to me... Just one of the endless things they did to help me out... I worked
on it for another two years, and sold it to help buy my first house.
 

                                                        On the right he's putting a new floor in the boat....
 

 

 

Here we are framing in the new sliding glass doors to enclose the carport...  He and Dona sure knew how to build a house...

Note the top is still on the golf cart... so this pic
was taken prior to hurricane Charley, as the top
was ripped off when it flew into the van.

He and Dona drove that cart all over the ranch.
Once I built a lift kit for it, it was able to go all
through the woods in the background.

That damn hat... my uncle always wore those...
it was his trademark... I use to snatch them off
his head... stomp on 'em... then put it back on
his head... He'd always laugh about that.

 

 

 

 

 

The hurricane... I got home to the ranch 3 days prior, and needless to
say the hurricane destroyed the ranch... the following pics were of Bake and I
rebuilding, logging, burning, and getting the place back together.

 

His toe got infected, and finally I had to take him into the hospital to have
it amputated.  So, typical Bake... the VERY NEXT DAY, out in the shop
supervising me on the roof, with his toes in bandages...We pulled a 15 hour
day, getting the roof ready for tin...  There's his trademark hat!!!!  I took the
drill and drilled holes all through the hat to "ventilate" it... :)  I nailed it to the
bench the next day...  Man, was the doctor mad when I took him back for
his 3 day followup...  I never saw anyone bitch out Bake like that guy did...

Didn't matter... we were back on the roof the next day... :)

Below: I burned the white hat in this pic... :)  It went on the wood pile....
as he would say: "It's seen better days..."
 

This is the tractor that got us through hell and back.  After Bake died, I brought it out to Arizona.  The day after I arrived with it, we had the monster floods... that morning I unloaded the tractor.
Minutes later it rescued a man and in his car being
swept away in a flooded wash.  My uncle would
have simply said  "It was your job to save him,
no big deal."   God I miss his strength.