A GREAT MAN DIED YESTERDAY...MY BROTHER-IN-LAW RON

Name a National Park, a Tennessee/Kentucky/Georgia/Florida state park, or a Southern section of the Appalachian Trail, and my brother-in-law Ron has probably sat foot on it!  He was amazing in his ability to recall the places he had been, but committing to memory every last yard of it was impossible.  

The times I would go hiking with him, and they were many, I, being much more out of shape than he, would ask, "How much further to the trail-head?" 

His reply was always, "Just around that next bend in the trail...I think!"  Naturally, my tired legs were so disappointed when it turned out to the the 3rd or 5th turn!

He knew my capabilities better than I did, so he allowed me to trick him into a stop by saying, "What kind of wildflower is this?  Or, "Look at this flower!"  He would just grin, that wide grin, stop, and come back over trail he had already covered to see my discovery.  He also usually knew the name of the flower!  His memory was sharp and remained so until the very end.

On Wednesday afternoon, when I entered his bedroom, where he lay connected to oxygen and fans running to cool him.  He looked up at me and with a shaky voice asked me, "Why is Corey (my son) selling his house?"  Right out of the blue!  

Why would this be on a man's mind when he had just hours before asked his wife, Neena, "Is this the day?"  

Simple, he cared about people, especially those that had

given him some pleasure and happiness along the way.  Corey had hiked with us several times, camped in the snow with us, and had eaten out with us, after some serious man-shopping, numerous times.  He always got a kick out of Corey's youth, his sense of humor, and enjoyed his company.

"He's just doing a little downsizing, I suppose," I answered Ron.

He closed his eyes and began working hard at breathing once again.  The medication hospice was giving him eased his pain and made breathing easier, but the price paid is conscientiousness.  Before he slipped off again I squeezed his hand, rubbed his forehead, and told him that I loved him.  His eyes struggled to open as he replied, "I love you too."

I told him that "we (the family) were here," and left the man that I had walked a many mile with to get on with the process of leaving this world.  His daughter lay down next to him and they both went to sleep.  His brother Jackson kept watch as others of the family came and went to say something to him, or simply touch him, but sometime around 5AM, Ron slipped away from us to wait for us on the other side.

All the good times flashed back tonight as I scanned my photo files of all the houseboat trips, the hikes, the vacations, the concerts, the holidays, and just regular days we had spent together.  God gave my family a good man to teach us a little about life and what God has made for us all to see and enjoy.

We spent the day comforting each other and remembering, and even raising a glass or two of beer to Ron.  He always loved a good cold pale ale, and traveling around the country trying new local micro-beers was what he enjoyed. 

When we would go on vacations together, he already had a map of where the famous bars and micro-breweries were.  It was great fun...watching the sun go down sipping a "cold beer" with Ron.

There were more laughs today than crying, and that is a testament to him as well; he loved to laugh and to hear us laugh.  He left us with loads of memories full of smiles.

There is a blank space in my heart as I write this, but doing so, and looking at all the happy memories, I am again filled with love and admiration for my brother...Ron.

Ron will be cremated shortly and a little bit of him will be left in some of those places he loved.  I'm so glad I got to visit some of those places side-by-side...or rather dragging slowly up the rear.  However, reaching the summit was always worth the time, and the time was made more special by sharing it with someone who thoroughly appreciated what God has made.

Here are just a few of the good times:

 We love you Ron.  Thanks for the memories!

UPDATE:

Ronald Baldwin, 65, of Kingston, passed away Thursday morning, July 25, at his home.

Ron was a veteran of the Vietnam War, serving in the United States Air Force. He was a retired facility manager with Oak Ridge National Laboratory and was an avid outdoorsman. He was preceded in death by his parents, Edwin and Evelyn Turner Baldwin; and his brother, Dan Baldwin.

Survived by his wife, Neena Poland Baldwin; son, Jason Fine of Michigan; daughter, Jessica Wooldridge of Knoxville; grandchildren, McKenzie and Jaxon Wooldridge, Chandler Fine; brother, Jackson Baldwin and partner, Sandy McFarland, of Lakeside Calif.; sister, Delores Moore and husband, Rhys, of Clearwater, Fla.; many brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, nieces and nephews.

Ron requested that no formal services be held. A private interment will be in the Colliers Cemetery in Dunlap. 

In lieu of flowers, the family ask that memorial contributions be made to the Mission of Hope, P.O. Box 51824, Knoxville, TN 37950.

What's That...What's Going On?!

It's been awhile, about 30 days, since I've posted, which is getting to be about par for the course.  So, I thought I would bring those interested up to date, and maybe prove the point, that retirement is loads of fun!

True, the fun is often broken by a low spot, like the last prostrate laser surgery, but boy, has it ever helped.  If you listen at the door, you would think a young horse was relieving himself!  I mean...even when I was young I never had a stream like the one I'd proudly show off now!

Anyway, I'm back to feeling myself (not literally), and having fun.

Dennis Tufano, Stevie G, and Steve Jarrell

I guess the first great adventure I had following the outpatient procedure was the "Dennis Tufano" concert Princess Productions put on down at the Princess Theatre.  He has lost little in his voice, the original voice of the Buckinghams, and his back up band, The Rockerz, with lead singer and guitarist Stevie G, did a bang up job.  The vintage ladies in the audience were screaming like they were 16 again and the boys on stage loved it!

I'll have to put in a plug for Michael "Crawdaddy" Crawley too.  He warmed up the crowd with his box of harps and his gravelly bluesy sounding voice.  He and went outside at break and took a few snaps of the Princess.

Bill Landry, Elizabeth Rose, Sam Venable, and Jim Claborn

They all loved our Princess, and I sure hope this gets things rolling downtown.  We plan on bringing in a quartet of storytellers next.  They are quite a crew, and well known to East Tennessee.  They spin yarns of Appalachia, country folklore, and even a golf and fishing tale might come out.  I had a recent promo photo shoot with them and they keep me rolling the entire afternoon and into the evening over a brew!

Judy and I are still out hiking when we can, even though the wildflowers came early, we still enjoy a walk down a wooded path by a mountain stream.  There just something about the woods that brings the child out in me again.  Being raised essentially an only child, being ten years older than my brother, I found solace from loneliness among the quietness of Tennessee forests.  I did my best thinking out there and discovered a lot about my self and the world there.

It's like the bear we recently came upon in Cades Cove, or the deer in the front yard.  They are my kind of people!  The only animal we came across that I don't consider "good people, was the grey snake at John Cable's mill!

Even the horses in the fields I see almost everyday take me back to a time when I got to be a kind of country cowboy, riding through the woods with my cousin Larry.  

Or the time Richard Lacher and I sneaked into a "walking horse" barn near our trailer park in Florence.  There we met the devil, and his name was "Midnight Sun", a Tennessee Walker of some renown.  

He saw us before anyone and wanted to kill us immediately, although "walkers" are generally gentle!  Came right up to us, trying to break through the steel gate, snorting like the wild thing he wanted to be again!  Probably was all that anger in having to wear those cruel weighted shoes, "stacks" (stacked pads), or weighted chains his trainer made him wear.

I discovered from the embedded web link that he was born in 1940 and accumulated quite record over his career, being a world champion in 1945 and 1946.

Last weekend I shot the "Cruisin' Harriman" car show downtown, which occurs the second Saturday of each month, April - August.  That's always a hoot, and I love community events, and the history that comes alive because of them.  Take this Saturday, it's the seventh annual WWII reenactment at the Secret City Festival in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.  I can't wait to see all those tanks, half-tracks, and American and German reenactors running amidst all that smoke and gunfire!  Talk about a hoot and a feast for a photographer!

Photo actually by Kaitlyn Russell

I missed a great feast last week by being too old to tackle Bonnaroo!  The only shot I got was from my granddaughters iPhone...the arch as you enter the rock'n playground for wannabe hippies!  Alas, it's as close as I'll ever get, but I just want to give her credit for sticking it out!  She almost gave it up after the first day of heat, and being ignored, but sucked it up and stuck it out for the full "right of passage" tour!

I'll stick to my hikes, waterfalls, old barns, lotus ponds, and visits to the strange "world's tallest tree house" in Crossville!  That's about as far out as I want to get these days.  That's my element at this stage in my life.

So, I'll sign off by telling you that I'm bushed...we had a big thunderstorm last evening, with the power going off at 9PM and not coming back on until 5AM.  I don't sleep well in the dark...pitch darkness, that is, or in quietness so still I can hear my heart beating.  At this age you think the next beat might be the last one, and you just don't want to hear that last one.  I run an air filter in my room to mask all the static noise...heart beats, squeaks from house expansion and expansion, crickets outside, the refrigerator running, or Judy snoring!  Without, I'm wide awake!

The rain and hail came down in buckets, and I was still there clicking away.  I made these HDR renditions of it all, even catching that spooky orange glow that comes in some storms.  

So with that...see ya next time...maybe sooner than 30 days...IF I got got shots during the war games!