Uncle Bill died from COPD, Lung Cancer and Emphysema. Twenty one years in the US Air Force and 10 years working for Simplot Co. will cause you do have some respiratory problems when you get older. Bill is my Mother's oldest brother. He is about 10 years older than she is. Although He is my Uncle I view him has my Grandfather. I never knew either of my Grandfathers one died in 1965 and the other died in 1982. Bill is the closest to a Grandfather I had. I love him dearly. And I hope he loved me as well. He always had a smile on his face and everyone was a friend. His stories always lit up the family reunions. How much of them were the truth and how much were the stretched truth only he knows. I have very fond memories of going to his house in Grandview Idaho and loaded me up with buckets upon buckets of rocks to take home with me. I was about 4 or 5 when that happened. It always caused my parents to roll their eyes and chuckle. Bill got a kick out of it. Other memories I have of him is when he would make his wooden toy cars. I remember playing with those for hours upon hours. And when I would brake them I would always try to glue them back together. I cherished those toys. I do believe my mother still has some of them. He carved beautifully. A lot of the family has some of his carvings. He made and carved wood canes, they have been priceless family heirlooms to those that have them as well as the bark cravings that he did. He loved his family more than anything. He always had time for his kids, grandkids, and great grandkids. We realized as a family this past week that there will be 3 additional great grandkids born this year.
Because of the death of Uncle Bill I got to see his oldest son Skott Mealer and his beautiful wife Becky. I haven't seen them since the early 80's and I don't remember seeing them back then. I got to see Bill's kids show their love for their father and take care of him in his final days and hours. I know Bill loved having his family around him during this time.
He will be truly missed. He is the greatest man in the world.
