Once at a New Years party, before 1960, Ron drunk himself into a stupor and passed out. And several of us in the wee hours of the morning was discussing the importance of no-telling what, and Ron rose up from his reclining position, put one finger up in the air and said, “If anyone knows, Moe Knows!” and passed out again.
Ron had a soup bowl haircut at the time, similar to Moe of the Three Stooges. He was instantly crowned with the name “Moe” which stayed with him beyond his life.
Today I went to his memorial service, and I heard him being referred to as Moe several times.
Ron, aka Moe, died in Mexico on February the 13th of this year, while on a scuba diving tip. He was 64.
Both of his parents died fairly young, in their late 40s or early 50s, both of heart ailments. When Ron turned 55 he quit his job at Lockheed, he felt his time was nearing, and he hadn’t did everything he wanted to do – which mostly was skydiving and skin diving.
He also like to hang out at bars and drink a lot. A compulsion I got over after I was released from active duty in the Navy.
They way he was an excellent union representative at Lockheed.
I think his wife probably left him around that time, she wasn’t around today. His grown daughter, her husband, child and his brother were at the service. His brother was an Annapolis cadet, thus, later a Naval officer, which I got the vibes Ron was slightly intimidated by his brother, say 30 or 40 years ago. They were natural enemies until the past several years, when they grew close to one another.
His brother broke down crying a couple time at the podium while talking about him.
It was a terrific reunion. I saw many old acquaintances that I haven’t seen in over 45 years. It is amazing, knowing you are in the same room as these old farts, some bald, most gray headed, many with facial hair – and knew them all then, in their crew cuts and clean faces. As I mingled and shook hands their old appearances seemed to have materialized in front of me, and they no longer looked like old men. It is always interesting to watch as someone who would know me well realized just who I am and watch their face light up. I used to be just an unpredictable bundle of joy.
But since I got married I developed into something of a recluse, keeping tabs on my only closest friends, letting all my rare free time go mostly to my extended family.
Today I got to wallow in my old friendships, at one their expense – sorry Moe.
2 comments:
I have noticed that if it were not for funerals and reunions, we would seldom see some of our oldest acquaintances and school friends. You ought to cultivate some of those guys in friendship now - otherwise the next time you see them will be at their funerals.
Or I might look up from my casket and see them looking at me.
Yes, I was thinking of calling some and catching up.
After the service the local Elks club which Ron belonged to invited everybody over to their club for a toast to Ron. My reclusive ways took over over and I declined. That is a shame I did that, I even had my little digital camera in my pocket to take pictures of the old friends.
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