Thursday, February 13, 2020
Uncle Robert liked to have things written down… from toasts at large family events to the scrap book he made for my parents’ 50th wedding anniversary. So, I thought I would capture some of my memories of Uncle Robert. All my memories are good ones which says a lot about the kind of man he was.
He was Santa Clause and he really enjoyed doing it. As a child I did not know that it was Uncle Robert climbing in through the fire escape to deliver toys to myself and my siblings on Christmas Eve at the apartment in Elmhurst.
He liked telling the story of babysitting for me as an infant and making flowers with tissues and floating them to the ground to try to stop my crying. I do not think it worked and he ran out of tissues.
Then the story he told about going to the department store for a clothing gift for one of the Fitzpatrick kids. He went to the counter and asked to have it wrapped. They said it did not meet the dollar threshold, so they would not wrap it. He promptly turned around and grabbed an armful of clothing and said he wanted to buy all of these and have them wrapped as well. Keep the first one aside because as soon as you’re done wrapping all of these, I intend to return them except for the first one. Needless to say, they decided to wrap the first gift.
When I was real young my Pop-Pop got a new red Dodge Coronet. Exactly like the old one. Why I asked? Robert hammered the old one. For years I had this vision of Uncle Robert with a hammer beating up the car on the side of the road.
The Super Bowl parties at Pop-Pop’s where he and his friends gathered with our family to watch the big game. Seemed like we gathered every year to watch the Vikings lose to someone.
When I was a teenager, he was a big St John’s basketball fan and tennis player. When he couldn’t go to the games, he would give me his tickets or he would let me and my friends use his tennis court reservation when he couldn't.
I was an altar boy the wedding of Uncle Robert and Aunt Ginger. Most folks don’t know that. Maybe they don’t believe I was ever an altar boy.
I was a teenager and of course always needed money, so Uncle Robert offered me a weekend job in Connecticut. I clearly was naive. I only had 2 jobs to do. Rake the leaves and move the sand down to the lake. How hard could it be? Well, the house is in the middle of the woods. For every leaf that when into a bag, 3 more fell out of a tree. At the end of the day, I probably had 100 garbage bags of leaves and it looked like I had not yet started to rake. That job now complete, move onto the next. I forgot to say, the house is located in the middle of the woods on the side of a mountain with a lake at the base of the mountain. Uncle Robert wanted a sandy beach in the lake. The next job was to move sandbags from the driveway (halfway up the mountain) to the lake. Who knows how many sand bags there were? I am still walking with a limp. But, last I checked, there is still a beach.
When I was a kid, Uncle Robert’s Lionel train set was passed on to me one Christmas. I have had the trains refurbished several times over the years and plan to set them up again this year with my son Ryan. They will bring back memories.
He had a bit of ODC in him. I remember a party at the lake. Every time someone would bring a boat back, he’d be there with a rag cleaning and drying it off.
Uncle Robert was always there if you needed something. I remember working on a paper for school and called him to ask about margins between Pepsi and Coke. He took the time and explained the differences between the companies. I am sure I received an A on that paper.
He loved those grandkids. The one sure way to bring a huge smile to his face!
I read all the kind memories his friends and coworkers shared about Uncle Robert. Very nice.
When I think of him, family is the word that comes to mind. We were always welcome at Uncle Robert and Aunt Ginger’s. And even though we (Floridians) may not have been there in years, they made us feel like it was just yesterday. I know they were always there for my family - whenever I call my parents, my mother usually includes the Burgholzer family report. I will miss Uncle Robert, but I will always have these great memories to remember him. Kevin
