(I am still getting reports from people who have NOT received this post.
So, I will try it again, but this time in two parts.)
Of course, never again in life will I pass a Horrid Fright or Horrible
Destruction without thinking of Frank. Ah, the memories will be with me
forever.
One of the highlights of our trip to England was when we visited friends of
mine in the small (pop. 300) village of Wishford. There, he and Gary
Butcher, a woodcutter for Lord Pembroke, went down to the Royal Oak, the
local pub, and teamed up to win the weekly "Quiz Night". The people at the
Oak still remember with fondness that happy-go-lucky American. And oh, how
he loved driving the narrow, twisting chicanes of those quiet English
country lanes. How he did revel when Alan East-Jones took us to Donald
Healey's pub for a pint. None of his friends, I dare say, every saw Frank
as humble as he was in Salisbury Cathedral. In Warwick, I was envious
watching Frank scramble up the 530 steps to the highest pinnacle of Warwick
Castle, while most others (especially me) were barely able to drag
themselves up one step at a time. Going down to Hampshire, we stayed with
Jim and Vicky Lodder and took in the two-day Beaulieu Autojumble, where I
had met them previously. Frank was duly impressed, for Beaulieu was far
larger than Carlisle. But the hail fellow well met Frank that we all knew
so well disappeared when we went we visited his late aunt's convent, and
especially when he visited the grave site. The elderly nuns were fantastic,
and they took Frank in as one of their own.
I had hoped to be there to say my final farewell to Frank, but the doc has
other ideas (I am undergoing a series of test for the next week, and must
also go in for the surgeon to slice and dice on Tuesday). So, although I
will not be there in person, I will be in spirit.
And now, my thoughts and prayers turn to Diane, Tiffany, Frankie and Frankie
Five. Diane will, of course, will be hurting for years to come. Now is the
time that she will need the support of all of us, and I would urge all of
you to begin to repay Frank's generosity and friendship by keeping in touch
with her. Simply because Frank is no longer there to help us is no reason
to leave her in her time of greatest need.
Buster Evans
The BusterCluster Sprite
http://www.ado13.com/BusterCluster.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fs1klEzra24
http://bustercluster.blogspot.com/
Spridgets at autox.team.net
|