There's one in every family ... a special someone who's presence makes everyone feel good. My Uncle Johnny was just that.

He always had a bit of the Gypsy wanderlust in his blood, so there were times we'd go for a few years without a visit or a call. But a child never questions things like that; and when I was a child, nothing excited me more than when Uncle Johnny came to town. He would come in carrying Pepsi and potato chips, and ordering White Castles for everyone.

We'd play games, watch basketball or boxing on TV, laugh, talk away the whole night about old memories and looking through the family photo albums, and just have the greatest time ever.

Then, as quickly as he had breezed in, he'd be gone. Life would seem a thousand times gloomier without him, and I'd cry myself to sleep for the rest of the week.

My uncle taught me how to play chess. And his lifelong passion for golf inspired me to hit the greens myself! I can't claim to have actually played with Fred MacMurray like he did ... but I'll never forget the pride in his voice when he called me after he heard I had just organized my first golf outing for a company I was working for at the time. "Like uncle, like niece," he said. And he was so right.

With his parents (my grandparents), John & Nancy Noe, in Florida

 

After years of zooming across the country, the "Gypsy" finally returned to San Diego and settled down -- back with my Aunt Dona, where he always should have been, and out playing golf several times a week. He was one of the most physically fit people we knew. And I guess one of the biggest shocks we've ever had was when the phone call came from California telling us that our beloved uncle had suffered a heart attack and was gone. It just didn't seem that this could be possible.

Naturally, I've been thinking a lot about my Uncle Johnny ... going over those "little things" that you don't really think of until you lose someone who is such a part of your life. I'll miss those little jokes he'd tell, and the weekly phone calls. I'll miss him making me feel that I was the most special person in his life (something he made EVERYONE feel). I'll miss him telling me that he's proud of me and that he loves me. I'll just miss everything about him because there really was no one quite like him.

And I guess for the rest of my life, whenever I hear a strange car pull up in front of my home, just a second I'll become that little girl again ... wishing it could be my Uncle Johnny blowing into town for just one last time.

(Additional photographs below)

Aunt Dona & Uncle Johnny

The Look of Love

The three of us, in my Mom's front yard

Mom with her little brother, Uncle Johnny

Breakfast at Frisch's with me & my husband, Steve

Probably swapping golf stories

My favorite photo of Aunt Dona & Uncle Johnny

"... That's why, Darling, it's incredible
that someone so unforgettable
thinks that I am
unforgettable, too."

I Love you, Uncle Johnny ... Thank you for loving me so much. I will miss you always. ~Nancy