Eleven years ago today my dad, Bernie the Bear, passed away. Very few of my friends and none of my WV family had the opportunity to meet him. He was a troubled but generous and loving man. In his memory, here are 11 interesting tidbits on Bernie Lachowski: 1. I never, ever saw him without a full beard which he kept trimmed. 2. He lived the bachelor life for 40+ years before settling down - he played minor league baseball, lived in Germany while in the Army, and worked on tug boats (his favorite being The Jiggs with Captain Bob Rumball). 3. He loved beer. Canadian beer. 4. He also loved the Da Bears & the Yankees. 5. His #1 go-to meal: tuna noodle casserole 6. If me and my friends begged enough, he would fry us up potatoes sliced really thin that were both perfectly crunchy and chewy. I still dont have the patience to make these without burning them. 7. He was freaking obsessive about lights on the Christmas tree - white lights ONLY and a minimum of 12 strands, minimum! 8. When I was in 3rd or 4th grade, my dad crafted some litter stabbers (literally, nails on sticks) and we picked up roadside litter on Earth Day. I dont know what motivated him to care about the environment and I sure wish I could ask him that question today. 9. I got my recycling-nazi-ness from my dad. And you better rinse that container out first! I made fun of him for rinsing out plastic bags. Now I do it. 10. I was never skilled enough to mow the lawn. He always used a push-mower (certainly not self-propelled) and would mow the opposite direction as the time before. He took great pride in his lawn, until he twisted his ankle and the neighbors complained about the tall grass. Towards the end of his life, an unmowed lawn was his ultimate defiance. 11. At the time of his death, he was not a happy person. He was lonely and too damaged or stubborn or scared or tired to change his life for the better. I never want to be that person.
Posted on: Thu, 16 Oct 2014 15:51:57 +0000
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