Last night at 11:00 PM, my father passed away in Knoxville Tennessee after a long battle with congestive heart failure and kidney failure. He passed peacefully after three days in a "renal coma", sort of a long last nap. My mother, brother and sister were by his side in his final hours. I had said my goodbyes a day earlier when it was apparent he would not awaken from this episode of illness. Dad was one month short of his 89th. birthday. He was a B-17 pilot, and the last surviving member of his aircrew. His postwar career was spent as the owner of one of the best independent automotive repair shops in the southeast, builder of some of the fastest flathead Ford racing engines in the state, president of the Nashville Tennessee chapter of the Independent Garage Owners of America, and Chief Instructor of Nashville Auto-Diesel College. The final 15 years of his working career were spent as the first Auto Mechanics instructor for McGavock High School in Nashville beginning in 1971, the same school where I taught, in the same shop, until the program was closed in 2010. Hundreds of former and current automotive professionals in the middle Tennessee area got their start in that shop. After they retired, Mom and Dad traveled all over the USA and Canada in their motorhome, and even visited Hawaii. They were very active into their mid-80's.
Dad was the most talented auto mechanic I've ever met, as well as being the most honest, caring and giving man I've ever had the privilege of knowing. He will be missed!
Thanks for listening to an old geezer's ramblings!
Jerry
