Granite and Silk

Hi Jasmine: I knew your Dad when he was a teenager. We were very good friends for several years. Your Aunt Gina's favorite song at the time was: Turn Around, Look At Me (she would play this on her phonograph player over and over; I still enjoy the song to this day)...We knew your Dad as "Gene Boy"...

I knew Gene when he was a "Sea Scout" and later when his hair got as long as mine...

I knew Gene when he helped his Dad buy the wood & material to build for their front lawn a large, rotating Christmas display of three revolving candles with flashing lights (its funny to think about it now...we could not get the darn thing to rotate properly and so we just had these three large candles on a long, oblong wooden stand). His Dad said, "Gene Boy, we could have used that money spent on this damn Christmas display to buy your Mom some Chinaware for Christmas"!). For the next several days it wasn't a good idea for us to hang around the house without getting caught up in this discussion.

Then, we purchased this replica of a small black powder cannon (at the time normally used to signal the start of a boat or stock car race) and during one summer period we were on Gene's driveway firing this cannon in the neighborhood...BOOM...BOOM...BOOM...we either ran out of black powder or the neighbors complained too much!

Our enjoyment during the summer was to jump into your grandmother's large Ford station wagon and head to our favorite water hole (an abandoned mining site) filled with cold, fresh water. We were told by Mike Dye (married Gene's oldest sister Joan) that there was a VW sunk at the bottom of the hole. I attempted several times to dive beyond 45 feet in that icy, cold water but gave up looking for the elusive VW (I think your Dad did find it in one of our many dives together).

During the winter season, we all gathered closer together to watch the Christmas favorites on TV...Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, and even the Peanut charaters in

Jasmine, your Dad enjoyed the classical rock music of our times...especially those songs by Three Dog Night, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison & The Doors, and yes...even some of those songs by the king himself- Elvis Presley

• we all did! So, I know that somewhere upstairs Gene is in

Rock & Roll Heaven and is having a good time! The saying goes..."If you believe in forever, then life is just a one night stand". Your Dad lived that life and I know he was very glad of it! Take care, Jasmine...and please pass on...All the Very Best to the Sword family...and to you Gina-

Steve