I got to take him home...

Today I had one of the greatest honors of my entire life, not only did I have the opportunity  to brag on my Unkie publicly, more importantly I got to take him home. I'm sure you're sitting there going take him home, what does that mean? I got to help lay my Unkie to rest in his hometown, just a quarter of the mile from his farm, where he was born and raised.  It was such a joy to be able to remember the  countless memories that were created  on that farm.  As I close this time of grieving and rejoicing, and began to move on I thought I would post what I shared today at his service...

Glen H. Smyth, my Unkie,  For the last several days I have really struggled with the fact of how do you sum up 84 ½ years of life in such a short time period. As I shuffled through scripture this week I came across

Ecclesiastes 7:1 A good name is better than fine perfume, 
and the day of death better than the day of birth.

I want you to know that when I hear the name Glen Smyth, Smyth spelled with a y, or the name Unkie. It brings a big smile to my face, because that is a good name.

The scripture goes on to say the day of death better than the day of birth, king Soloman catched  the essence of what our attitude  as believers should be, that death is better than birth because in death we get to depart to our destination of paradise, birth we have to continue to go through the dress heresal of what’s to come for eternity.

What I learned from my Unkie

If you want to get somewhere in life, you have to work for it. Unkie, self made, he wasn’t scared to work, in fact up until his death he ran Celex, a company he has owned and operated for the past 51 years.

I learned how to prepare my plate of food before I eat it, if you have ever shared a meal with my Unkie, there is no doubt you quickly came to the realization that he enjoyed food.  Each and every time Unkie ate, his plate would have to be in order

After Unkie had his heart attack some 25 years ago, Auntie would really get on him about watching what he ate. Well to keep Auntie from griping at him, he created what My Dad, Jeff, Brian Scalf, and I always called Celex Deli. Unkie has a refrigerator full of all his favorite food, still till this day. He even took it a step further he had a gas little stove put in at Celex. It wasn’t uncommon to show up at Celex and see Unkie cooking up some kind of food.

He loved to scan the local grocery stores, to find the best deals on his favorite foods

I learned from Unkie to always keep a little money hidden in my wallet, because you never want to be caught off guard without any cash.

I learned to fight.  Unkie was in the hospital for more than 15 days, I watched him day and night, get stuck with needles, I watch him struggle for every breath he took, in attempt in his words “to buy a little more time.”

In Unkie’s last days, I learned from him to enjoy ever second the good Lord gives you, Never in my life have I seen someone that wanted to live so badly

Some of my greatest times with Unkie

I’ll never forget Unkie, the adventure seeker that he was haul me around the farm on his motorcycle, more like a mo ped. Auntie would always get on to him for driving too fast

I’ll never forget, Unkie being the supportive Unkie he was would always dress up with me and we would put on entertaining shows for Auntie that would go on forever.

I’ll never forget After following the Eagles for more than 20 years Unkie was able to watch Abilene High Win a state championship

I’ll never forget that Unkie got to see his TCU HORNED FROGS win the Rose Bowl

I’ll never forget that Unkie got to see the Texas Rangers get to the World Series, a funny story about Unkie and The Texas Rangers is just a matter of weeks ago, Unkie wrote a letter to the Texas Ranger giving his opinion that the previous Televison Commentator did a better job than the current one. Well Unkie, just a few weeks ago called me and told me that he had something to show me. Unkie felt like the most important person in the world when he handed me a signed response from Nolan Ryan thanking him for his concern for the Texas Rangers.

I am grateful that just 5 days ago I was able to watch an entire Texas Ranger game with Unkie for the last time.

I am grateful for almost the past year, he got to see my daughter almost ever week. When she was first born, he was so afraid to hold her, he would keep saying well she is almost big enough for me to hold, just recently if you around Unkie at my house, it was not uncommon to find Unkie with Sadie sitting in his lap

What I am going to miss about Unkie.

His Thursday afternoon phone calls to check and see how the boys, Abilene High were feeling before their big Friday night game.

I am going to miss him bringing Sadie suckers weekly he had got from the bank teller at his bank

I am going to miss Unkie’s Saturday morning call to talk over what happened the night before at the Abilene High Game

I am going to miss our times we got together for lunch. Our conversation always started out the same, with Unkie telling me who had the best Lunch specials, then eventually we would end up at the usual, Sharon Allens.

If you were close to my Unkie, you knew he was a great story teller. I am going to miss hearing him tell stories about his childhood days, his time in the military, and his memories that were created on the Farm.

When I use to stay with Auntie and Unkie, Unkie would tell me these amazing stories, I would eventually fall asleep. But Unkie was such a great storyteller, Auntie would want to hear the rest of his story. But Unkie would say, I don’t know what happens, I was just making it up.

I am going to miss seeing the sparkle in his eye as he sang to my daughter.

Ill be honest with you, Unkie called me more this past year than ever before, It was not unusual for Unkie to call me at least 3 times a week,  Unkie, would always be cordigal and ask how I was doing, but it never took him long to get to the root of why he called, “ Chad-man how’s my girl  doing, How’s Sadie doing?

When I hear the name Glen Smyth, Smyth spelled with a y, or the name Unkie. It brings a big smile to my face, because that is a good name.

And Lastly How do you some up 84 and a half years in such a short amount of time, “Happy trails Unkie till we meet again. Happy trails to you, I am going to keep smilin’ until then.”