Club Cobra - Goodbye Dad

I thought some might like to feel apart of being there, so I though I would share this with you the best I can put it into words...

It was kind of a dreary, overcast but warm day here in Southeastern Wisconsin. Diane and I arrived in Milwaukee where normally you'd find tons of traffic, yet today it seemed the streets were bare, only to add to the uneasiness one swallows as he goes to the last call of a fallen friend.

St. Aloysius catholic church is one of those old, huge stone churches with all sorts of marble and stained glass inside with that familiar "church smell" that you might remember when you were a kid going to service with your grandpa.

A small but obviously close group of people huddled at the center of the church where their silent murmurs echoed in the cavernous surrounding of this Holy cathedral.

As we walked closer we saw Jackie, Ron's wife and closest friend in life standing there doing what anyone could do at a time like this, pretty much halfway between confusion and unimaginable sadness. Still there was a smile from her as he spied us in the crown and fell into Diane's and my arms in a total and mutual release of emotion of our departing friend and husband.

And then there Ron was, just like I remembered him not so long ago, and just receiving his last email from him only hours before his untimely passing. In fact, I thought if I looked close enough I would see that tell tale and famous smirk of his, but sadly I did not. Still, I knew it was there. somewhere.

Photos aligned each side of where Ron lay, almost all of them with his wife Jackie or his kids in the pictures along with friends and family. And of course, a lot of photos of the thing he loved most, only second to his family, and that was of his Cobra with the ever present huge Superformance banner overhead. I always kidded him he should have a big "S" tattooed on his chest while he was at it. His favorite attire, without a doubt, was his white Cobra shirt and Blue shorts. After looking at all the photos over the years you might think they were taken all the same day!

I met his son Scott, and a fine young man he is indeed just as Ron had always said. Ron was very proud of Scott as all fathers are of their children. As Jackie introduced me to Scott I was kind of surprised by the big smile on his face and a little chuckle with the greeting of, "so you're the wildman?". Apparently Ron had told him some things that I may or may not have recalled (hehe), "Thanks Ron, ya got me again didn't ya". Yep, that's Ron, still at it.

As his brief release of smile slipped back into tears, Scott said before I left, "would you please put this on the Forum so all his friends know?" And I replied that it already was, and that he might have a little surprise on his Dad's website in the guest book section when he returns back to Arizona.

Sadly, since they can not get into Ron's account to turn off his e-mail he will no longer be getting, I have to remove his name from the Owners list.. This will be one of the most difficult things I've had to do and I am putting it off as long as possible, but I don't think I could bear to see that name appear as "mail no longer deliverable."

For me, this Truly signifies reality that Ron is gone. So long, Ron.

We were glad to have met Ron, and we are better persons for having known him. Thank you for listening.

Below is the is the verse and words the family chose for the cards at the church to send Ron on his journey with...

"May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face, and the rains fall soft upon your fields, And until we meet again, May God hold you in the palm of his hand"
Ronald P.Daveley Oct 23, 1940 - May 18, 2004

/Randall Thomas & Diane Thomas