Dad is with Mom

[ttrigg]

Dad never woke up from his afternoon nap for dinner. He went peacefully in his sleep without much pain. I have no idea when, but services will be at Riverside National Cemetery. As he put it, he will be moving into the upsairs apartement over mom.

Bill, I did not get the chance to read your note to him. If you have any questions I might be able to answer I'm using mom's old email address until after the funeral [e-mail] til I get the house ready for sale and close their cox account.

I will always treasure watching my parents in the backyard, mom with her lemonaide and dad with his ice tea running their trains. Like I told Bill, dad may have been the Chief Operating Officer and senior engineer of Rosebud Falls Scenic Railways, but mom was the real boss. She named everything on the railroad. She started buying garden trains for him every christmas since the lived in germany.

Last week he told me that his final statement should be "Now get outside and play in the dirt."

Carrie

[PVT Kanaka]

Hi Carrie,

Please know that your Dad's legacy is alive and well in the shadows of O'ahu's beautiful Ko'olau range.  His patience and generosity helped make a reality out of an idea.  There are four childern in Hawai'i for whom a garden railroad is a fact of life, and I am in his debt.

We had planned to bring the Oberammergau, Ogden & Olomana Railroad to "full dress" this weekend, bringing our miniature world to life with every PLAYMOBIL building, cowboy, pirate, and fairy stashed about the hose that we can find.  I think that this time your Dad will not have to wait for photos to enjoy the day with us.  We will be outside, awe will be dirty, and, yes, he will see it.

You and Your Family are in my prayers.

With all of my aloha,

Sincerely,

Eric

 

[chocho willy]

   Carrie, so sorry to hear of your dad's passing but know he is in a better place. I saw where you pretty much answered all my questions that I had posed in the message section. Also knew from previous chats with Tom who the real boss of the railroad was, LOL. Remember when chatting with him about stained glass windows how he said he had put a picture of you in one of his building windows and looked like you were peering out from behind the curtain. Tom was very helpful to everyone and will be greatly missed by this forum. Very cleaver man and certainly cared about you and family. You and yours are in my prayers.

 

   Sincerely, Bill Barnwell (chocho willy) 

 

[Rene Schweitzer]

Carrie and family,

I'm very sorry for your loss. Your dad was a great help to this forum over the years, and we appreciated it. I'm going to make sure a small obituary is included in the December issue of the print magazine. My condolences and thanks for letting us all know.

Rene and the GRW team

[ttrigg]

Eric

First, thank you for your kind words. Second, you live in HAWAII????? The way dad talked about you I had always thought you were a couple hours drive up the I-5 from San Diego.

Bill

Braille has 14 of dad's external hard drives at our home in Texas. If he can find the picture you talked about I will send it. 

Rene

Thanks much. I know that dad loved this site very much. I know he got rather long winded at times, I just hope he did not bore too many readers. I saw your post on dad's Facebook feed, thank you for the kind words. 

Carrie

[vsmith]

Dang, I felt something was off when Tom announced he was going into hospice so quickly.  Tom was one of the few people from the forums I got to meet with at shows. I enjoyed his creativity and was glad I could make a couple small inputs on Tom's layout. I'm so sorry for you and your family.

[erikem]

Carrie,

Sorry to hear about your dad - I was looking forward to hearing more about his new friends at the hospice.

 - Erik

[ttrigg]

Vic

Actually it was mom who fell in love with your profile picture when it was the cable cars(?) at Angles Flight(?). She told dad he needed to find a way to meet you, based simply on your profile photo.

Hospice was not a recent decision. Three years ago, come September, dad told the doctors no more chemo. They told us then that he had less than six months, being hard headed as dad was he said "what do they know." About five months ago dad gave in and was enrolled in hospice at home. Braille and I moved his bedroom from upstairs to the downstairs den, until the doctor said that they could better help him at their facility.

Thanks for your kind words.

Carrie

[vsmith]

It was probably this one, I have an original copy of it somewhere, Private Message me an address and I'll send it to you.

 

[ttrigg]

No need. That is just one of several hundred dad has on his computer. Thanks.

[Dick Friedman]

That's not Angels Flight.. AF is a funicular in downtown L.A..  That is a curved trestle on the Mt. Lowe Scenic Rwy in the mountains above Pasadena and Altadena CA.  The trolley ran to a resort at Mt. Lowe.

[Ray Dunakin]

Carrie, I'm very sorry for your loss. I never met Tom in person but on the forum he was a good friend.