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My great Cousin John passed away last month.
John was the middle brother of three boys who spent our younger years together in Winona, Minnesota, with me and my three brothers.
Seven boys who were like one big family.
John's older brother Donald, passed a couple of years after my wife and he died of the same disease as my wife, Pancreatic Cancer.
John's younger brother Raymond remains the surviving "Stow"cousin.
Ok, here's a little story about John.
When we were kids, the seven of us (3 Stow's & 4 Freeze's) would all go up into the Stow's attic at night to sleep. When Aunt Emgert or Uncle Hale told us it was time to shut the light off, we would go under our sleeping bags with flashlight and read comic books which filled the attic. What a great memory. We'd get up in the morning and ride our bikes on John's paper route, stop at the dairy and get a quart of chocolate milk and go back to John's house and drink it all.
As John got older he went to Winona State College, became a teacher and moved to Sparta, Wisconsin. John loved old cars and spent years fixing several beauties. His favorite was a '55 Mercury which he totally restored.
John also was a Model Railroader with a fabulous train layout in his basement for years. I wish I had a photo. And John was also an experienced Pilot who loved being in the air. I would have loved to fly with him.
John was really known for his humor. For several years he would send out a Christmas Letter with information on events that happened to his family during the past year.
Here's a Christmas Letter from 2006.
And some family photo's
And as you see John loved his family!
Ray, Dave, Jim, Chuck, & Gene will miss you brother.
RIP
And I Just added John's 2007 Christmas Letter. It is Great too!!
