Dearest Isabella, Part 9

Thomas Jackson Lynn: Well, this could also fill a book. My dad, Tom or sometimes TJ, if Mother was flirting with him, grew up in the Great Depression. Again, I’ll let Coach tell you all about that later. His mother died when he was about six from tuberculosis and he was raised by his older sister, Mabel. They were very poor and he remembered living in a tent, traveling to Florida for work and watching his dog disappear down the road because they couldn’t take the dog with them while he sat in the back of a pick up truck, and having the only quarter in his pocket that his family had at the time. He noticed that the men he admired the most were men that were involved in church. He chose to pattern his life after them and he was an elder in the First Christian Church in Amarillo for as long as I can remember. He had more sayings than you can imagine. At the time, I thought they were bothersome, but now I would love to hear him say them again and tell him how smart I think he was. When we were leaving on a trip he would say, “Now would be a good time to get those things you forgot.” Not long ago I heard Uncle Curt tell Jack and Sarah that. When I complained about steak being tough, he would say, “I’ll tell you when it’s tough, it’s tough when you don’t have any.” He always looked out for people that were less fortunate than he was and when he died, friends made donations to the Salvation Army. One of my favorite memories is that he called my mother “My Lady” and “Honeychile” My mother bought some silverware that was called “My Lady” just because of its name. Maybe someday you, Sarah or Jack will have it. I love to think about them when their love was new and before the war took such a toll on him. Mother said he was never quite the same jovial man after the war. When I would ask him about WWII, he would shake his head and say “It was awful. It was awful.” He did manage to secretly tell my mom where he was on a ship in the South Pacific. The government censored the letters but he managed to tell her to tell the new girl Callie something or other. Dona you remember her or something like that. He was in New Caladona and mother figured it out. I have attached some pictures that were taken after the war. Mother and Evelyn were beautiful and Daddy and Uncle Luke were handsome and dashing. I sometimes see my dad in your Uncle Curt. He used to regularly send Grandmother Beryldine flowers, but Grandma Beryldine stopped that and said they needed to save the money. He graduated from Amarillo High School, the same high school Grandma Beryldine, Coach and I graduated from, when he was 21. Talk about perservance. He never had a college degree but he managed to save a considerable amount of money on a very modest salary. He used to charge me a penny when I left the lights on and to this day, I turn off lights when I leave a room….or at least most of the time. If your mom or Uncle Curt would save some money, he would match it and put it in savings. He was frugal, but generous. One of the funniest stories was when he ask Coach to go with him to do his shopping on Christmas Eve. Coach remembers going into a Rexall drugstore right before they locked the door. He looked up and down the aisles and settled on a bottle of Great Body Hair Conditioner. He said he didn’t know what it was, but he knew it was good because it was expensive. Your great grandmother was perplexed when she opened it and said she didn’t know whether she should rub it on or drink it. Before you are too harsh on him, remember Grandmother Beryldine took back a mink coat that he bought her. Note to Isabella, Jack and Sarah….love the gift and love the gift giver. The night he died, I called him and told him I loved him. We had a good talk and he said he wanted me to call again the next night. I said I would try. Later that night he had a massive heart attack and was gone quickly. I wish I had said “Sure, I will call you.” Grandmother Beryldine said that she wished she could have told him one more time that she loved him. When it’s all said and done, Sarah, Jack and Isabella, the greatest of these is love. He was a good Daddy and I’m so happy that Jack bears his name.