Tim Ladusky, 1947 - 2011

My friend, Tim, died this morning (7 Dec). I've known him for 42 years, since we were stationed together down in south Texas. When he nearly cut a finger off in his trailer, I drove him to the base dispensary and sat there listening while he joked with the corpsman sewing his finger back on. Tim's family lived in Arlington and mine in Austin, so he'd drop me in Austin when he'd drive home for a weekend, and pick me up on the way back to Kingsville. He met most of my family on these successive trips and charmed each of them. When I got married in 1974, Tim was my best man. I wasn't able to return the favor; I was in California when he married Beverly, but we visited in San Francisco on their way back from their Hawaiian honeymoon. When my large family would go camping at Inks Lake State Park, over a period of many years, we were always thrilled when Tim and Beverly were able to join us.

I mentioned in a previous post our flight down to Brownsville and back in a Piper Cherokee when I got hired by the FAA, and he and I drank plenty of Jack Daniels a few months later when I "took my leave" of that outfit. Commiserating with Tim (and Jack) made it better. In a year or so, when PATCO was at odds with the FAA, Tim and my dad discussed the problems at length. When the air traffic controllers went out on strike, my dad stunned all of us by telling Tim not to worry, he'd hide Tim if necessary from the US Marshals. My dad???

Tim and Beverly were there when we brought baby David up to the Metroplex from Austin for the first time, and they brought baby Amy to see us in Georgia a few years later. Still living in GA, we brought baby Gillian back to Texas and introduced her to "Buncle Tim" and Beverly. Eventually, I left Lockheed and got a job at General Dynamics. Finally, Tim's family and mine both lived in Arlington so, when TJ was born, I was honored to be his Godfather; Tim and I even worked for GD at the same time for a while. Later, he went to work for the IRS and I went back to Lockheed, bouncing back and forth between Marietta and Fort Worth. It was great having a friend in the IRS and I always knew where I could find some Jack Daniels.

I was at Gloria's and Bob's wedding (Tim's sister and brother-in-law), and Tim was at several of my sisters' weddings. I was stationed in some far-off land when Tim's Mom died, but made it to Pop's funeral and, of course, Tim was at my dad's funeral too. Our families have shared a lot of history since 1968 or '69. Shared. Tim was probably the most generous person I ever knew. I can't think of a thing he wouldn't do for a friend - or even a friend's friend. When I moved back to Georgia after my dad died, Tim bought dad's tiller - then for months every time he mowed Pop's lawn, he also came over and mowed my mom's lawn (and tilled her vegetable garden when needed) since I wasn't around.

Tim was in a single vehicle traffic accident in September on his way home from his grandson's first birthday celebration. He totalled his pickup truck, broke bones in his back and neck, and woke up in Parkland Hospital ICU. His prognosis wasn't good. He transferred to an acute care facility in Mansfield, TX where he underwent dialysis three times a week (following kidney surgery several years ago), was immobilized because of his back and neck injuries, and on medication drips and feeding tubes since his accident. He was only occasionally responsive for the last month and a half, but Tim's past all that now. He died peacefully about 1:30 this morning - or yesterday morning, now - and as Beverly noted, he doesn't need dialysis any more and his back and neck injuries are healed.

Ninety Years and Counting. . .

Well, I mentioned on FaceBook that I'd post a few pictures of Mom's 90th birthday party on the blog. Of course, you can never capture everything going on at an event like this, so you pretty much just shoot what's out there and hope it captures the "flavor" of whatever happening you're trying to cover.

It started off pretty slow, as you might expect, but the day was gorgeous - and cool enough to make us all forget the summer's oppressive heat. We were thrilled Aunt Dorrace and Uncle Kirksey felt well enough to come down with Joan and Pat. And we made a new friend, Paula, who lives in Austin and is married to one of the kids that lived across the street from us in Quantico 50 years ago. Here's Mom, in the blue blouse, visiting with Paula and Dorrace. Stephen's adjusting the wheelchair.

Most of the attendees were family, of one sort or another. Here's Stephen with Ethan, testing his Skeletor personna in preparation for Halloween. You may remember Ethan from the summer wedding photos, when he and his dad, Matt,  joined "the Family".

After the summer we struggled through, it's hard not to appreciate a picture of people just standing around talking. . . and NOT ONE OF THEM is SWEATING!!!

We were pleased to see Stan's mother, who came down from Tyler. And Virginia and Jack drove in from Bastrop, where their house survived the horrendous wildfires of early September. As Jack said, "It was too close."

Ever on the lookout for eye candy, I found Natalie with a beautiful smile in a lush background - exotic plants, even a Tiki torch - how could it get any better than that.

More of the same here, except for one thing. Stan (at left) has a phone stuck in his ear. He's talking to David, who was calling from Australia to wish Grandmother a Happy Birthday. He made the most of it by talking as well to several cousins, aunt's and uncles. . . and me.

The youngsters found that Uncle Richard had replaced his tired old trampoline with a new one. Lauren, Blake and Ethan worked off dinner while the entire assemblage awaited the cake cutting.

This Black Forest cake was large - and a real treat by anyone's standard. (I've got a bit stashed in my refrigerator. It makes "regular" days "special".) Karen put a portrait of Mom in uniform (1944) on the table perhaps to suggest that things weren't always as they are now; that we weren't always who we are now. I decided to add a few more pictures of Mom taken through the years. What a wonderful woman!

 

Mom's in the middle here with her two younger sisters, Helen and Jean. "Uncle John" is the tall fellow on the left, and Grandad is taking time out from his work to satisfy the photographer.

Mom graduated from Mercy School of Nursing in Canton, OH in the autumn of 1942. She wasn't yet 21, so she had to wait 6 months to take the State Board exams. As soon as she passed her exams, she joined the Navy Nurse Corps, took her first train ride to Naval Training Center Great Lakes, north of Chicago, and was soon off to her first duty station, NAS Pensacola, FL.

 

Here's a picture of Mom and Dad when they were courting, sitting on the steps of the nurses' quarters at Pensacola. Dad was there for advanced flight training and they met in the hospital when he broke his leg in an aircraft accident.

A few years after they were married, Mom was ready to take her two babies (by herself) to the island of Guam where Dad was stationed. Grandmother took the news in stride; Granddad muttered, "All the fools aren't dead yet."

Several years later, someone managed to take this portrait of her with none of the (now four) kids in the picture. . . a real rarity.

Time compresses as we get older. Five more kids and a bunch of years later, Mom received this gag gift at a family camp out at Inks Lake State Park. Buzzard's Glory was her one room grade school, back in Ohio.

In October 2001, we convened for Mom's 80th birthday and took over a beautiful B&B in Fredericksburg, TX for the weekend event. Here she is rocking on the front porch with Stephen while all her kids minded all her grandkids.

And, a few years ago, I found Mom and my five sisters posing with a few of her granddaughters in and about one of the live oaks in Mary's back yard. All in all, it's been a pretty remarkable 90 years.

The Reception Continues. . .

We left you yesterday with sunset rapidly approaching in the Garden of Good and. . . Better.

Tim was busy shooting more family pictures for Melissa and Matt, so I did a little freeloading - that's why everyone's looking somewhere else. . .

Across the yard I found Cat (Nicolette) enjoying dusk beside the pool.

Here's Danny visiting (and enjoying a cigar) with David and Mary.

Not standing on ceremony Lisa, a.k.a. the Reverend Dr. Tulk, sits on the grass.

What have we got here??? A crew from Lexington Rd in the '60s: Kathy, Cathie, Kathleen, Angela, and Cindy.

Karen, Proprietress of the Garden (and chief gardener), with Stephen and Danny's sister, Kristi.

Tracy's taking a short break, but my camera's trained to find her automatically now. Everything on these new cameras has a default. Tracy's my default subject. . .

And Mary's still here, looking great and with her eyes wide open for the camera.

Andrew's back now with his big sister, Tracy. Big? Little? Never mind. It's all relative.

Daniel's here too, brandishing an empty glass. But that will soon be remedied, I'm sure.

Cousins: Tracy, Cat, and Katie.

Richard had to give up his kitchen to the caterers, but that's alright. They did a fine job and he had a chance to kick back and enjoy someone else's goodies for a change.

Cathie and Kathy. . .

Cindy and Angela. . .

Stephen and Kathleen.

Danny and Cathie.

I heard a splash. It must be. . . Lauren!

Still going strong. . . Angela, Cat, (Tracy's) Matt, Tracy, and Katie.

Now there's ample evidence that my Canon likes Tracy. Here, Tim shows us that his Nikon appreciates her as well.

When I was taking my leave, having had all the fun I could stand, Matt wrested my camera away to try to correct this sad state of affairs: the photographer seldom shows up in any of his collections. Two of my sisters - Angela and Cathie - bid me good night.

I understand things finally wound down with the arrival of the dawn. The neighbors never called the cops - as far as I know - and everyone made it home. . . eventually. Good job, everybody.

Congratulations to Melissa and Matt

We're very happy to welcome Matt and son, Ethan, to our extended family and to congratulate Matt and Melissa on the occasion of their wedding. It was a fine affair, following weeks and weeks of hard work (mostly by my sisters) making Karen's backyard as beautiful as we've ever seen it. And that, in the face of hundred degree plus temperatures and damned little rain. At any rate, the late afternoon wedding was wonderful and followed immediately by an equally fine reception.

Matt and Melissa provided their own photographer (Tim, a friend of theirs from San Diego) which left me free to concentrate on family and those friends in attendance we've known for a long time. So this post and the next might seem a little one-sided if you were one of Matt's family or longtime friends, but no slight was intended and I suspect that Tim covered the event more evenly and that Melissa and Matt will have all the pictures they could hope for.

I'm not sure when it all started. I arrived at 5 for the 7 o'clock feature, but it was so hot that I sat in the living room for a while under the ceiling fan . . .

When I eventually appeared in the garden, Tim was taking pictures of the families and the wedding party while guests arrived, introduced (or reintroduced) themselves, and began to mingle. Above are Lauren, Melissa, Tracy, and Andrew.

Here's part of Michael's family with Aunt Mary - Mary Clare, Katie, Aunt Mary, Angela, and Kay.

Meanwhile, Michael was over near the bar taking pictures of his own. Cindy, Michael, Angela, Stephen, Danny (father of the bride), and Richard.

The guests have begun to be seated and Stephen, looking mighty spiffy, is looking for a seat on the aisle with a good view of the proceedings.

Here's Katie and Mary Clare, with their mom in the row behind them.

The excitement is building. . . Nicole had already walked to the front (but I was asleep, I guess). . . followed here by Melissa's sister, Tracy. And if Tracy's here, can Melissa and Danny be far behind?

The crowd's getting anxious. . . the wedding party is lined up: Nicole, Tracy, Lisa, Matt, Ethan, Blake, Aaron, and Andrew. . . waiting. . .

Ah, Melissa and her proud father. What a beauty!

Somehow, the sun didn't seem anywhere near as hot as it had been, and the garden was even more lovely in the late afternoon. Time stood still briefly. . . and then it was done.

Congratulations to the bride and groom.

Aunt Kristi gets a hug from Melissa. Matt's sister, Sarah, is the pretty blonde to the left of Kristi.

Here, Danny is talking to his daughters' grandfather, Clarence, and their great grandmother, "Great".

Off in another part of the yard, David is in discussion with Kathleen and Cathie is talking to Cindy.

Above is Tracy with Gary and Carly, who recently visited her in England.

On the left, Angela is talking to Myra, the girls' grandmother, and Tracy is talking with "her Matt" (as opposed to Melissa's Matt) and Carly. You can't tell the players without a scorecard.

Here's our favorite Aggie (at least from this generation), Nicole. Behind her Angela is talking to Great.

Tracy and Lauren enjoying the reception. (I can't help it if every third picture is of Tracy. . . it makes me happy.)

It's a great wedding that can accommodate a dog the size of Socks. In the back are Paul and his pal Robby (swiping a chair).

Tracy (big surprise, right?) and Aunt Kristi chillin' with their custom fans.

Blake and Ethan chillin' with their fans.

Kristi (Danny's sister), Tracy and Lauren. Oh! Perhaps they're matching fans.

And here's Mom, visiting with everyone who drops by and enjoying all the activity. The sun didn't bother her a bit.

Tomorrow's post will continue reception coverage to the point when I gave up - somewhere after 1a.m. - and went home. Look for it. Rumor has it that there may be a picture of me in the mix. . .