Today I attended the funeral for Mr. Thomas Donahue. Sadly, I never knew him as Tom Donahue- to me he was simply Mr. D.
Mr. D was a fellow firefighter with my father on the Hammond FD but he was more than that. Mr. D was the best substitute gym teacher an elementary school kid could ask for! Screw the plan! Screw the Billy Ray Cyrus electric slide video we were SUPPOSED to learn. Screw the big and little arm circles that Richard Simmons Sweat the the Oldies. Mr. D was all about hardcore gym fun.
Mr. D was about dodgeball, and those rediculous scooters that you had to move by turning the large handles side to side rapidly! Mr. D was about democracy and he let us US have a vote. He let US choose what to do for our 60 minutes of required activity. This man was about Freedom!
Even better was that Mr. D took a special liking to me since he worked with my father. The year we moved from Hammond I suppose my dad was telling him how I was having a hard time adjusting and April comes around and what does he do? He has my dad call me to the firestation for and I walk in to find that he bakes me a cake! A damn good one too! That shit had chocolate swirls! (So much for physical fitness!)
Today I spend 2 hours watching a few hundred firefghters, family, and friends make their way past a casket and pay their last respects. I watched my dad stand tall for Honor Guard.
I hugged his wife and told her "I'm so sorry", I hugged his son JT and said " you and your family are in my prayers, and I winked through tears at Mr. D and said "thanks for the cake..."
Mr. D was a fellow firefighter with my father on the Hammond FD but he was more than that. Mr. D was the best substitute gym teacher an elementary school kid could ask for! Screw the plan! Screw the Billy Ray Cyrus electric slide video we were SUPPOSED to learn. Screw the big and little arm circles that Richard Simmons Sweat the the Oldies. Mr. D was all about hardcore gym fun.
Mr. D was about dodgeball, and those rediculous scooters that you had to move by turning the large handles side to side rapidly! Mr. D was about democracy and he let us US have a vote. He let US choose what to do for our 60 minutes of required activity. This man was about Freedom!
Even better was that Mr. D took a special liking to me since he worked with my father. The year we moved from Hammond I suppose my dad was telling him how I was having a hard time adjusting and April comes around and what does he do? He has my dad call me to the firestation for and I walk in to find that he bakes me a cake! A damn good one too! That shit had chocolate swirls! (So much for physical fitness!)
Today I spend 2 hours watching a few hundred firefghters, family, and friends make their way past a casket and pay their last respects. I watched my dad stand tall for Honor Guard.
I hugged his wife and told her "I'm so sorry", I hugged his son JT and said " you and your family are in my prayers, and I winked through tears at Mr. D and said "thanks for the cake..."
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