June 22, 2020 - From the time I was three years old, I never saw my Dad smoke anything except a pipe. Wherever he went, the pipe went with him on the porch, in the outhouse, in the woods or at work. I even saw him a few times sound asleep snoring with it in his mouth. Wherever Daddy was, the pipe was. It a curved one that hung low below his chin.
Daddy had a special drawer in our chest of drawers (or chester drawers to us kids). The sweet-smelling top drawer was his pipe and tobacco drawer and I loved to pull it out for a quick smell. Daddy was a life-time smoker, but not with cigarettes or cigars, but just a pipe. Daddy finally retired as Water Superintendent for Center, Texas when he was in his sixties. I drove up to visit him and Mother when I saw something was different. As we sat visiting in the living room, something was missing, I suddenly knew what it was. When I saw that Daddy’s pipe was missing, I blurted out, “Daddy, where’s your pipe?” “I quit smoking,” he said. “After a whole lifetime, I know it wasn’t easy,” I lamented. Suddenly he laughed out, “Son, it wasn’t hard. I ain't never inhaled nothing.” All his life, he had just been “puffing” on his pipe.
When Daddy Crossed the Jordan in 1984, I asked Mother if I could have his pocket watch, a Westclox Scotty, that hung from his watch pocket for many years and my brother Bill asked for his last pipe. I have dreamed about my Dad many times and the dream is always the same. He is sitting in his chair at 203 Hill Avenue in Center, Texas and I always say, “Daddy, I have a thousand questions to ask you” and then I wake up. I know that my Dad doesn’t need a pipe or a watch now, and I know we’ll all see him again ... someday.
When Daddy Crossed the Jordan in 1984, I asked Mother if I could have his pocket watch, a Westclox Scotty, that hung from his watch pocket for many years and my brother Bill asked for his last pipe. I have dreamed about my Dad many times and the dream is always the same. He is sitting in his chair at 203 Hill Avenue in Center, Texas and I always say, “Daddy, I have a thousand questions to ask you” and then I wake up. I know that my Dad doesn’t need a pipe or a watch now, and I know we’ll all see him again ... someday.
