He loved his wife.
He loved his children,
his grandchildren, and
his great-grandchildren.
He loved his church.
He loved his camp.
He loved his country.
He loved to play cards and
won his share of nickels.
He was never late for dinner.
He always ordered the same thing and
he always tipped a dollar.
He always struck the same pose
for pictures but
he never struck a pose
for people.
He loved his sports;
from Bob Feller and
the Big Red Machine
to the surprising summer of ’90.
And of course he loved his Buckeyes
— all of them —
and he raised a grove
of his own.
He drove 35 on 22
and 55 on 71 but
he loved the rolling roads
through the small towns best.
He didn’t say much,
mum but never
mysterious.
Mark Twain once said
it’s better to keep your mouth shut
and be thought a fool than to open it
and remove any doubt.
But Bus was nobody’s fool,
and didn’t suffer them gladly.
His way was simple and sound;
he was always glad to see you
but the rest he left up to Liz.
He was old-school taciturn
and some would say
hard to know
but he is and always will be
easy to remember.
RectorSite 
Brian,
Thanks for expressing “didn’t say much” so eloquently.
I once took Bus to a Red Sox game as a bonding experience. I got seats in a Roof Box; at the time, a wooden affair, covered with a wooden roof, bench seats and a counter at the front, perhaps formerly the press box. It rained, but they didn’t call off the game for over two hours… it seemed like two days, as there was little chit-chat.
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I couldn’t have said it better myself. Thanks, Brian.
The one thing you don’t mention is his laugh — he had a great giggle of a laugh, a deep but joyous “hee-hee-hee” that you most often heard when he told you a joke. [Later you could hear it a lot while he watched “Golden Girls” re-runs.) He liked to laugh at his own jokes, and there was nothing better than when Grandpa turned to a young grandchild and told us a joke. It didn’t last long, and it didn’t happen often, just often enough to let you know he had his eye on you.
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I enjoyed this poem.
Thanks, Alison
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I think I only met the man a couple of times – once at Marc and Carol’s wedding – but after this and Marc’s posting, I feel I almost knew him.
W
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