Saturday, February 25, 2023
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Jr, June Bug, Pops, Uncle Pops, Neeschas, Papa, Daddy .. as he was often called. Most caring, loving, generous, funny, easy-going mannered person one would ever want to know. Never a dull moment when with him. Even though we weren't his biological children he still took us as his own and we were also proud to call him our “Pops". He treated everybody and everyone with the utmost respect, especially our mom whom he loved and cared for so much. We had never seen anyone treat someone so lovingly, she was his “Queen” (so he called her). Rarely did we ever see them apart.
He was my mom's sous chef and would often ask, “so how many more years before I become a real chef?” Mom would say, “6 more years,” ... every year! Never one to complain, in fact, he and my mom had so much fun in the kitchen together. I actually think it was mom that was his sous chef.
Sure, he had his “special” moments... Lol.. He was always so forgetful and short minded, he’d only have to go in for a few items at the store and he would come out a few minutes later asking, “what did I go in for again?”. Or when he would tell mom he had some sort of ache or pain and she would ask him, “well why do you think?” and he’d reply with, “I don’t know... why?” Mom would say, "I'm asking you!" But there were times we realized he wasn’t as "special" as we thought he was... we would spend hours at a time playing trivia games and were quite impressed with his knowledge in a lot of topics, especially music.
Many times Pops would pull out his guitar, and mom and him would sing for hours which I knew brought him joy because he truly loved his music. His guitar playing, singing and performing was his passion and everyone knew how well he played. He was always so comfortable on the stage. Pops would push all of us to pursue our dreams, especially with music.. He would often talk about all of us becoming a family band. I know that Nechi Country lost the main part of their group.
Pops was such an animal lover, animal rescue and anything animal is what he would watch. Sometimes we would catch him with tears in his eyes and we would ask him, “are you crying?” and his answer would be, “No, I think I got a rice in my eye” .. My mom would ask, “how the heck would you get a rice in your eye?!” He loved animals so much that at times he would try and “rescue” them, even if they were collared and owned .. if mom didn’t stop him he would probably have an animal shelter at his house!
Pops truly loved us all .. Evan Niel, Jaycee, Dylan, Jessica, Brendan, Jordan, Barry, Syrai, Jerrica, Carlind and Jewel and also Deja …. who mom and pops adopted as their own. There were also many others who proudly called the parents “Mom and Pops”. Not to mention all the grandchildren he lovingly accepted, and would never even say no to babysitting. Of course, mom would get upset and ask, “why would you agree, now you're stuck with them!”. But Pops, never the complainer would care for, love and cook for them all. All the babies gravitated to him because they obviously felt his loving nature.
Pops was one of a kind and was so loved by us all, he would also tell us he loved us all as well. Never will we forget the happy times and memories we have of him, and how truly blessed we were to have spent what time we had with him. Until we meet him in heaven let us celebrate his life and pray that we get through this hurt and grieving we are all going through. Forever loved and missed… ♥️
