The Day My Papa Passed Away

The day my Papa passed away I got 110% on my organic chemistry exam. Given, I had already taken the class two times before (3rd time's a charm, right!?) and it was the first exam of the semester, but I believe he had something to do with it too. Everyone in my family felt his presence around them the days following his death. My dad was going to get a suit for the funeral when all of a sudden his car honked at him. He was in the store and noone was in the car, but it still honked. And it's not a car with a car alarm on it. A little weird, but we like to think things like that are the people we miss communicating with us in little ways.

My Papa was unique in that he wrote his own obituary. Here it is for you to read. The last part my Aunt wrote. I'm hoping you'll be able to click on it to make it bigger so you can read it easier.

And in case you can't click on it to read it, I typed it out for you:

"I am 80 years of age today, I am still alive, and hope to live longer. However, I would like to leave a parting word, other than the usual words. I wish to speak about common sense (surely, there are people who don't think I have any), but I'm trying again to speak about common sense. When I was 20 years of age, just a few days from being 21, I was drafted to enter World War II. I had a job at the Nickel Plant making guns and other war materials. I didn't have to enter the war, but I wanted to stop Hitler. Enough said, I became a crew member on a B-24 Liberator Bomber, doing 24 combat missions before being shot down, having parachuted and losing 5 of my buddies (crew members) that day. The theme in those days was to stop Hitler! I was 21 and was sure Hitler was the cause. Slowly, over the years, my common sense finally began to awaken!!! It wasn't Hitler alone, because it takes many to create an abomination. Evil has no gender, nationality or race. It takes thousands, if not more, of evil people to band together to steal lands, enslave and persecute others. Let us hope today that we use our common sense to not become followers of evildoers. Evil is the absence of good. It is the void of light (knowledge) in the hearts of men. As I have told my children, God made billions upon billions of people, and each with a different brain. He wanted us all to be different. However, it takes the approval of a lot of people by silence or by actions to make evil... Malcolm"

HUGH MALCOLM HINSHAW became a prisoner of war for 14 months that day in World War II. He saw the sorrows, as did many young soldiers. Survived by his wife, Mary Rose Martin, they were married for 56 years. They had worked hard to build their first home together (he dug the basement by hand and she pushed the wheelbarrow), raised their three children Cheryl, Hugh and John, and loved their daughters-in-law Marcia and Sandy, and three grandchildren, Mariah, Nate and Zach. As he would like to say, he was a one-house builder until he joined forces with his sons to form a company. Retired at the time of his death, he continued to enjoy the gift of life. Funeral services will be conducted 2 p.m. Thursday, January 31st, 2002...