Post by DADDY O on Mar 28, 2017 11:18:44 GMT
What is your most prized possession?
Something you would expect to be buried with you because you value it so much? Or something you will only bequeath on your death bed? Something you will never give up as long as you can draw breath.
Mine is simply a rifle..........................hey, I'm a Yank remember?
But this this not just any rifle, it is a spectacular rifle with a lot of history.
Here is the story. I moved to Austin America in the late 1970's, and went to work for a large engineering company based in Cambridge, Mass. I was the "Assistant Manager" of this office. The Manager, who I will call Richard very quickly became one of my best friends.
While we were in a meeting with one of our largest clients (the City of Austin), Richard collapsed to the floor and was unconscious. I called for emergency response. The Ambulance hauled him away to the nearest hospital. It turns out he had a brain tumor the size of a baseball. They operated and removed the tumor. After that, as you might imagine, he wasn't the same guy as he was before. He was a brilliant engineer that knew more about wastewater treatment than any other man I had ever met. But after the operation, he was mediocre at best.
The company kept him on (he had three kids and a wife), and they asked me to help him when I could. One of the best companies I ever worked for.
After his operation, the doctors told Richard they were 90% sure that the tumor would come back within 5 years, and when it did, it most likely would not be operable. Great prognosis.....right?
So, for the next few years, Richard and I spent a lot of time together, along with his two sons and daughter. We became very close. Richard's father spent a lot of time in Texas as well, and he and I became very close friends.
It was almost 5 years to the day of his first tumor that Richard died of brain cancer.
After his death, his family and I became close........I now refer to them as my "Adopted" family in Boston. I think they are closer to me than my own brother and sister.
Ten years after Richard's death, his father died. On his death bed he bequeathed me his most prized possession. It is a rifle (he and I spent a lot of time hunting in Texas, and in Maine).
When Richard's dad was younger, he purchased a Krag Rifle from a woman who's husband owned it, and died in Cuba. This is not just any rifle, this is the rifle that Teddy Roosevelt had made for his "Rough Riders", who in 1898 were the First Volunteer Cavalry that served with Lt. Colonel Theodore Roosevelt in the Spanish American War in Cuba. This weapon was the primary weapon used to take "San Juan Hill", and thus ending the Spanish American War.
The one that Richard's dad bequeathed to me is in absolute mint condition. I'll need to take some photos of it.....can't get photobucket to work anymore.
This is from the Internet:
I'm not sure what I will do with it when my time is up. I suspect one of my granddaughters may very well end up with it. They are both a better shot than their father is.
Something you would expect to be buried with you because you value it so much? Or something you will only bequeath on your death bed? Something you will never give up as long as you can draw breath.
Mine is simply a rifle..........................hey, I'm a Yank remember?
But this this not just any rifle, it is a spectacular rifle with a lot of history.
Here is the story. I moved to Austin America in the late 1970's, and went to work for a large engineering company based in Cambridge, Mass. I was the "Assistant Manager" of this office. The Manager, who I will call Richard very quickly became one of my best friends.
While we were in a meeting with one of our largest clients (the City of Austin), Richard collapsed to the floor and was unconscious. I called for emergency response. The Ambulance hauled him away to the nearest hospital. It turns out he had a brain tumor the size of a baseball. They operated and removed the tumor. After that, as you might imagine, he wasn't the same guy as he was before. He was a brilliant engineer that knew more about wastewater treatment than any other man I had ever met. But after the operation, he was mediocre at best.
The company kept him on (he had three kids and a wife), and they asked me to help him when I could. One of the best companies I ever worked for.
After his operation, the doctors told Richard they were 90% sure that the tumor would come back within 5 years, and when it did, it most likely would not be operable. Great prognosis.....right?
So, for the next few years, Richard and I spent a lot of time together, along with his two sons and daughter. We became very close. Richard's father spent a lot of time in Texas as well, and he and I became very close friends.
It was almost 5 years to the day of his first tumor that Richard died of brain cancer.
After his death, his family and I became close........I now refer to them as my "Adopted" family in Boston. I think they are closer to me than my own brother and sister.
Ten years after Richard's death, his father died. On his death bed he bequeathed me his most prized possession. It is a rifle (he and I spent a lot of time hunting in Texas, and in Maine).
When Richard's dad was younger, he purchased a Krag Rifle from a woman who's husband owned it, and died in Cuba. This is not just any rifle, this is the rifle that Teddy Roosevelt had made for his "Rough Riders", who in 1898 were the First Volunteer Cavalry that served with Lt. Colonel Theodore Roosevelt in the Spanish American War in Cuba. This weapon was the primary weapon used to take "San Juan Hill", and thus ending the Spanish American War.
The one that Richard's dad bequeathed to me is in absolute mint condition. I'll need to take some photos of it.....can't get photobucket to work anymore.
This is from the Internet:
I'm not sure what I will do with it when my time is up. I suspect one of my granddaughters may very well end up with it. They are both a better shot than their father is.
