Uncle Buck. I’ll Miss You

Uncle Buck, Aunt Jane and Grandpa

Today at 5:15 my Great Uncle Buck passed away. What a strange phrase. He would have said, he went to be with Jesus, or entered life eternal… and honestly, I believe he did.

He was a giant of a man and a gentler soul you would be hard pressed to find. He was the oldest of 3 and was the only boy. His mother… my great-grandmother was a pistol. A women that could shoot a snake and miss the chicken it was wrapped around, spin a yarn that would keep you enraptured for hours and had a boyfriend well into her 80’s until she broke up with him because at almost 90 she did not think it was good for him to keep driving to see her.

My Uncle loved long and loved hard. He loved two things more then anything else. Jesus and Jane, his life long bride. I remember as a child I would go to his house and it was filled with silly love notes to Jane. Dancing hippos with pink hearts drawn with love by his own hand, messages on the mirror… the whole deal. He wanted her to know how much he loved her every single day. As a child I found it strange, how nakedly he loved her. He never hid behind gruffness or any of the other tools we use these days to disguise our stronger emotions. He loved her and it did not matter what anybody thought about it. We should all be so lucky. I think he was able to do this, because he loved God first.

As a child I remember his booming voice and loving smile. He had the voice of a preacher and that was what he was. Tragically I don’t have that many memories of his voice because he lost his ability to speak due to a degenerative neurological disorder that left him with no way to earn a living and slowly but surely robbed him of his dignity. He could not eat in public due to the extreme shaking the disease caused in his jaw. Something which you would think would cause a man to lose his faith… but it never stopped him. He had drew and wrote his own tracts that he would share with anyone he met. He would talk to us all as much as he could about the grace of God and the pure love of Jesus Christ. Even without a pulpit, he shared the word with anyone willing to listen. He would go down to the community center and talk to all comers… and they came. They loved him. They wanted to hear his message and the truth is… if you had met him… you would have wanted to hear it too. Love just shone out of him, and his spirit made all the negative ideas you might have about tracts and evangelism just melt away.

Sadly in his later days, his mind betrayed him and dementia stole even this little joy from him. He always had Jane who stuck by him and loved him through all the hard times. He was a big kid in a giant’s body filled with love, humility, naiveté, and a loyalty rarely seen these days. I know these final months of his life were difficult and it is a blessing that he finally gets to be with the man he loved the most, Jesus Christ. So all I can say is: