I received a message this morning, that my cousin, Dave Wright, passed away. We were born two weeks apart, in 1944. Since I had no brothers or sisters, he and I were very close. When we were growing up, we spent as much time as possible together. We both loved music and girls. In our teens, he lived in Garden Grove and I resided in Whittier. In the summer, I would spend a week at his house and in turn, he would spend a week with me in Whittier. One day we wanted to go bowling, I nor he, had any money. We decided to raid my coin collection. I had a roll of Indian head pennys, we headed to the bowling alley. I have always wondered, who opened up that roll? When we were in our twenties, he would come up to KFXM and help me pick out records to play on the air. One day, we were cruising E Street in San Bernardino. We were driving next to a car that two girls were in. We pulled them over to the side of the road. Dave was infactuated with one of the girls. We spent a fair amount of time talking with them. Three weeks later, Dave married Donna, the girl he met that day. Later on, I owned a service station in Orange, Ca. Dave became the manager. He was outgoing, sure of himself and the customers loved him. We actually shared an apartment together for a brief time. Since we both loved music, we blasted out our radios and hi-fis. We caused an uproar in the apartment complex, because of our loud music. In the waning years, we drifted apart. We did keep in touch with phone calls and occasional visits. Dave suffered a stroke, circa 1995, and spent numerous weeks in the hospital and a rehabilitation facility. I spoke with him from time to time, encouraging him to fight and overcome this setback. As a result of his stroke, he had limited use of one of his arms and lost eyesight in one eye. He kept that certain something and remained cheerful. When I suffered an abdominal aortic aneurysm in 2005, he sent me a card, reminding me to fight, as I had recommended him, ten years ago. My heart aches tonight, its been a tough day. You never know when, suddenly, you encounter a life or death situation. Thank the Lord each day for the life He has given you. Goodbye Dave, see you in heaven.
Posted on: Fri, 29 Aug 2014 02:18:00 +0000