Buried a sportsman yesterday

[tsquared]

My father died on Tuesday this week and we had his funeral yesterday. At 89 he had a full and rich life, served overseas in the RCAF during WWII , and had a great marriage to my mother for 60 years. I spoke at the service about the lessons my father taught me, one of which was  an abiding passion and respect for the outdoors--hunting,fishing, camping and skiing. I know from reading your posts that many of you share these same interests in hunting and fishing and I was thinking there is usually someone who introduced you to these pursuits. I thought it might be interesting to  honour the person who was important to you in this regard by sharing a story about time you spent with your mentor.

My father loved to laugh and I will always remember the time when I was about 10 years old when we stopped to troll for coho (silvers) on the way back from diving for abalone near Mitlenatch Island. It was a hot day in August and I still had my bathing suit on from our diving when we put out the lines and began to troll. I quickly caught my 4 salmon on my rod while my dad only had 1 fish from his side. I made sure he knew what I thought about his fish catching ability as I made a comfortable nest out of life jackets in the bow of our 12 foot aluminum boat. "Wake me in 2 hours," I told my dad, "That should give you enough time to catch up to me in the coho department." I promptly fell asleep in the hot sun. As I slept, a seagull flew over and left a big, burning greasy deposit right across my bare chest! That woke me in a hurry and I didn't hesitate, vaulting right over the side of the boat into the water. The boat moved away from me at trolling speed as I came up to the surface and treaded water.All I could see was the stern of our boat and the old Johnson 9.9 receding away from me with my father's shoulders shaking with laughter! It took him about a 100 yards to collect himself enough to get the boat turned around and head back to pick me up. I was starting to get concerned as we were about 4 miles from the nearest land! We had a good laugh as he hauled me in and told me that would teach me to be so smug about my fishing ability! He reminded me of that story over the years and we always enjoyed the telling.
Anyway, that was my dad. He taught me how to shoot and fish and respect our country and how to be a man.
Don Thorson 1916-2005

Tom

[Oldman]

Tom,

My best wishes to you and your family. Thank you for sharing. It ment a lot to me reading it...

Olds

[manxman]

Hi Tom,

From your post it seems like his funeral was very much a celebration of life, that is the best epitaph you can give someone in my view.

My dad was also my mentor and he died exactly 24 years ago today when I was in my teens. He taught me the love of the outdoors and fishing, to respect living creatures even if you did serve them up on a plate and, as you wrote, to be a man.

I remember the first time he let me steer the boat and I promptly ran it aground the minute he took his eye off me and a host of other anecdotes.I had the happiest of childhoods and my dad was my hero.

He never talked about his time in the WWII until one day he opened up completely, I knew he had been badly injured in Italy but he told me the circumstances, being dive bombed by Stuka bombers and coming round to find all his colleagues and friends dead.

It was that day I truly got the measure of my dad and mentor, two days later he died suddenly and not a day goes by when I don't think happy thoughts of him.

I think we are both lucky people Tom.

Best wishes to you and yours.

Manxman.

[psdubl07]

Tom, I'm truly sorry for your loss.  Those are great stories guys.  Thankfully my parents are still both alive and I see/talk to them multiple times a week.  

Here's a quickie:
When I was about 6 my dad took me fishing on opening day at a local lake, which of course was a complete zoo.  We squeeze in on the dock and I catch a fish right off the bat (not hard on opening day).  Since I hadn't quite mastered the fine art of attaching an egg to a hook, my dad rigged my rod for me.  Of course while he was doing that, I caught a fish on his rod.  By this time, my rod was ready to go, so while he baited his rod, I caught a fish on my rod.  This went on for the better part of 2 hours at which point we went and warmed up while eating one of the biggest breakfasts I've ever had.

[SMOKEHOUSE ROB]

Tom, I am sorry for your loss, God speed.

[Chez Bubba]

Tom,

That was a wonderful post. I grieve for your loss, but feel happy for you that you had such a wonderful person in your life. Sounds like the old man brung ya up right.

I'll feel extremely blessed if I make it to 89. I lost my dad when I was 19, he was 44. Missed out on the times I could tell him how much I appreciated everything he'd done because I was still a teenage know-it-all.

I wrote a paper in college that was pretty much a tribute to him, your post has inspired me to dig it up & place it here. I'll be back.

Rest in peace Don Thorson, you did a good job.

Kirk

http://www.chezbubba.com
Ya think next time I check into a hotel & they ask "Smoking or Non?" they would mind?

[jaeger]

Tom,
I know you have been through a lot lately. You have my sincere condolences.
Your story was very refreshing. You know some people take things for granted. The man that is married for 60 years and loves his children and is always there for them is really the role model that we all can look up to. His life should be a goal for us all!



[edit typo]


<font size="4"><b>Doug</b></font id="size4">

[tsquared]

Thank you all for your kind thoughts. It really does help.I look forward to some of your stories.
Tom

[Phone Guy]

Tom,

Your Father was a Hero. I'm happy you could share a piece of his life with us.
I was 8 when I first went hunting with my Dad. I thought I was a big shot carrying a bb gun. Must be 12 to hunt deer in CA. I got to see Dad shoot a buck. There are a lot of memories.

Bless you and your Family.

[MallardWacker]

Tom,

To know that you had such a special Dad and mentor as he, means so much to a persons life.  You are a fortunate man.  Even at that, it sometimes makes all the harder.  My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.


SmokeOn,

mski
Perryville, Arkansas
Wooo-Pig-Soooie

If a man says he knows anything at all, he knows nothing what he aught to know.  But...

[tsquared]

Thanks MW. Your name reminds me of the time the old man told me to strip off and climb into a November pond after a mallard that I had shot--I can still feel that half frozen mud between my toes as I went for a swim --and I never took a shot at another thing unless I was damn sure I knew where it was going to land.[:I] I think I was 12.
T2

[Chez Bubba]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by tsquared</i>
<br />reminds me of the time the old man told me to strip off and climb into a November pond after a mallard that I had shot--I can still feel that half frozen mud between my toes as I went for a swim --and I never took a shot at another thing unless I was damn sure I knew where it was going to land.[:I] I think I was 12.
T2
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">Now that's FUNNY![:D][:D][:D]

Gotta love a father with a creative imagination to teach you a life-lesson![8D][8D]

http://www.chezbubba.com
Ya think next time I check into a hotel & they ask "Smoking or Non?" they would mind?

[MallardWacker]

T,

What a great lesson.  Keep those memories close, they seem to get more important as life goes on.  We are here for ya man.


SmokeOn,

mike
Perryville, Arkansas
Wooo-Pig-Soooie

If a man says he knows anything at all, he knows nothing what he aught to know.  But...

[whitetailfan]

Thanks for everyones story.

My Dad's uncle - my great uncle Mike was a rugged man.  Cowboy at youth, forest ranger during his mid life, and always the sportsman.

We buried him a few years back now, but I will always treasure his lessons.

As a bachelor, he never had kids and other than my Dad, none of his nephews hunted, so my brother and I got lots of attention from him.

One summer when we were very little, Uncle Mike took us fishing everyday for weeks on end.  Too little to appreciate the areas we were going to of course.  I do remember having to pick our own maggots from cow pies though[xx(]

The areas he took us were all his favorite fishing holes, and as time went on the land changed hands, and access is not today what it was back then.  But I still tell the stories of Uncle Mike to my wife and kids and never fail to point out a half road - half trail that I know leads to a golden fishing hole when we drive by.


<font color="green">whitetailfan</font id="green">
"Nice Rack"
Lethbridge, AB

[Kummok]

Great tribute Tom! I'm sorry for your loss....sounds like your Dad would have fit in VERY well around our place. So many parallels between your Dad and my own.....mine's 89 and still going, WWII vet, gunsmith, Winchester collector(see attached photo), cowboy, gypo logger, catskinner, rancher, shipwelder, meatcutter, woodsman, hunter/fisher, guide, even a game warden. His outlook on life however, took a severe hit when my Mom died back in 2000. Everyone locally, including him, have said that he'd be "dust and ashes" by now if we hadn't been blessed to be in a position to retire from firefighting in CA, cancel other travel plans, and come back to Alaska to spend his remaining years together, but it is truly my wife and I that have benefitted from keeping his company these last few years.

As I know you can relate, having a sportsman for a Dad, there's soooooo many stories to select from, (THAT's why we have always had a campfire ring, (even when we lived in the city!)......something we brought with us from growing up on the ranch). There's one, when Dad and I drew down on two bucks that were fighting on an island near Kodiak.....we both fired and both bucks dropped at the same time, horns still touching.

Here's the one though that I'm certain your Dad would get a kick out of, Tom.....My Dad grew up on the same ranch as did I,  and "more than once" in his younger days, he filled the smokehouse with fresh venison without paying too much attention to whether or not it was actually hunting season. So my quick story is one that relates to this part of his past.....In 1959, Dad was a game warden for the Feds in Alaska. He was especially succesfull in apprehending poachers...so much so, that he got the attention of upper F&W management. When asked about his methodology for detecting and apprehending so many poachers, (in the act!), he simply replied, "Takes one to know one". I'm not so sure the brass spent too much time going back and checking out his original employment application for disclosures[;)][}:)][:D]

Again, my condolences Tom.....you were very blessed to have had such a long life with such a strong Father!
RC

Here's pic of Dad (along w/ugly Kummok and lovely wife he doesn't deserve) at Dad's Winchester display in the April/05 AGCA gunshow . He'd been showing his lever guns since mid 70's and this first time he won any awards! The 12 hour trip alone purt 'ner did him in, but the smile on his face when he took 2 of the four awards given at the show proved that he didn't care about any damage to his body......

35 years of extinguishing smoking stuff and now I'm wondering WHY!
Kummok @ Homer, AK USA