Chocolate Milk
Pepa was my chocolate milk buddy. Every time I was at their house, I knew there would be chocolate milk. I also knew that if I was getting myself a glass, Pepa also wanted one. Sharing this with him is one of my favorite memories of my Pepa.
From Tommy Shriver
I remember when he helped me rebuild the engine on a tractor. I had never done anything like that and he bought a book and he let me do it all by myself with his guidance. He was an amazing person and I learned so much from him!
Christmas memory
Pepa was good at wrapping gifts but he never claimed that skill and always saved Mema’s gift for me to wrap when I arrived on Christmas Eve. I think it was really just an excuse to be able to show me what he got for Mema. He was always so excited about his gift for her. I will never forget one gift (or should I say three gifts) that he absolutely loved giving her. Little gold cherub earrings and the cherub held a small diamond. The very next year he was excited to show me the gift he had picked out for her, they were the exact same earrings. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that he had purchased an identical pair the year before and neither did Mema. The next year, he very excitedly brought me a third and identical pair of earrings lol. I decided I had to tell him. He said, “well I guess I really like those earrings”. I loved wrapping Mema’s gifts for him because I loved seeing how excited he was to have found the perfect thing for her.
From Jackie Cantrell
John was a big man and very special in his own way. He told me one time after Wayne had passed that he was proud of me. I have never had any one tell me that and I have never forgotten that he was a very special man
One of my favorite memories
I remember one winter it snowed, I was 5ish and the snow drifts were literally over my head. Dad had to go check the cows and I wanted to go with him but I could not walk on the snow. For the most part I was light enough to walk on top of the snow but occasionally I would fall through and it was too deep for me to get out. He tied one end of a piece of bailing twine around my waist and the other end around him. He had me lay down and he just pulled me across the snow and sense I was laying down I didn’t breakthrough. The cows were hunkered down at the back of our acreage which meant climbing a few pretty steep hills. I had a blast! I never once gave it a thought of how much work this was on Dad until we had made it to the top of the very last hill and collapsed to the ground. I jumped up and tried to get him to talk to me but he would not talk back. I started to cry because I was pretty sure he was dead. At that point he started laughing. It was that great big belly laugh that I miss so much. I was pretty mad at him at the time for scaring me but looking back it is one of my favorite memories. He could be ornery but I never had a moment of doubt about whether he loved me. He enjoyed the inconveniences of parenting me and he wasn’t afraid to show his love. I was an adult and he was frail enough I was afraid I might hurt him before I stopped sitting in his lap. He didn’t sing any known lullaby but made songs up as he went that always included how much he loved me. I so wish I had a recoding of some of the songs he sang me. I think his favorite line was “She’s my sissy sue and I love her too”. I love him an I miss him but I see him in myself and in his grandkids and I look forward to being reunited with him one day.
50th Wedding Anniversary
Putting Zion to Sleep
At the beach
