Time Never Stops-A Wonderful Man Has Gone To Heaven...

My Uncle Truman Johnson died a few days ago. He lived in Longview, Texas. He was 93 years old.

Uncle Truman was the third child of nine children of Lily and Ab Johnson. He was the second oldest boy. He had been married to the same woman, Bernice, for 70 years. I guess they liked each other a lot.

Uncle Truman was a favorite relative of mine. He was a tall man, over six feet and a bundle of energy. Lately he had slowed down some and moved into an assisted living home. That was where he was living when he died.

He came to my home in Orland, California in 1996 with my Mother who lived in Modesto. I could have driven to Modesto to see him but he wanted to come to Orland. He was 82 years old at the time. Mom was 89.

We had a nice visit. He told me of some adventures he had when he was younger. He is the one who told me that our ancestors, the Brummetts, freed their slaves when they moved to Texas in 1850s. They started a ranch there and the folks who had been slaves, stayed on and continued to work for them. Aunt Lola who is another favorite relative of mine (she has since passed on) says Uncle Truman was full of it. I'm not sure whom to believe but I lean toward Aunt Lola. But, you never know.
I gave him a copy of a cassette tape that I had copied off a reel to reel tape I made in 1958 with Grandma and Grandpa's voices on it. He was thrilled.

Uncle Truman was quite a guy and he was from quite a family. They were into cattle, railroads, oil, peach picking, grape cutting, cotton picking and a whole lot more. Uncle Curly was a Texas lawman in Longview; Uncle Bill was killed in the big war; Uncle Truman was with the railroad; Uncle Frank was a peach and cotton picker and an activist for welfare recipients in Modesto and I won't even go into what the girls were into.

Uncle Truman's family was quite a group. Even with all he had in common with his brothers and sisters, he was one of a kind and we're sure gonna miss him.

Later...