A Good Ole Uncle

I do not remember a time when there wasn't an "Uncle Elvin"...until today.  My Uncle, Elvin Vester "Foxey" Fox, went to his eternal reward, early this morning, in Arapahoe, Colorado.  He was ninety-one years old.  Uncle Elvin was my Mom's only brother and the only son of Joel and Parzettie Fox.  Uncle Elvin and Aunt Betty celebrated sixty-seven years of marriage in September and I know life will never be quite the same for her.

My first recollection of Uncle Elvin was his size.  I know he was well over six foot tall, broad in the shoulders and he was loud!  Not in an obnoxious way but in a "scare the pants off of little kids" way.  As a matter of fact, that is what my daughter Tabitha, remembers most about him.  I remember one phrase he almost always used when he first saw us on his many visits to the Ozarks..."Well! By Golly!  Look Here!"  And...most of the time when he said this, he would clap his big ole hands!

Uncle Elvin was all about work and working hard. He referenced his life by where he lived while working on certain jobs in the Kansas oilfields.  In later years when they would come to visit, he would question Ralph and I about our jobs and was always interested in what we were doing.

He always had a one-liner or a joke.  Sometimes he would call me up just to tell me the latest joke he had heard!  If I thought long enough, I might remember some of the jokes but I do remember a one-liner he would always tell.  "I had to wear hand-me-downs when I was a kid.  All I had was older sisters and I just hated wearing them dresses!"  He would laugh real big and usually slap his leg and then tell another big one!

I also remember after his bout with cancer and the chemo he took.  The chemo almost took him down.  Somewhere in all of that ordeal, he had a life-changing encounter with the Lord.  I don't recall the details and he never talked a lot about it but I could see the change in his life.  It wasn't big radical changes but subtle things that you would miss if you weren't paying real close attention.

I won't get to attend the funeral due to "Grandfatherly" concerns here but my thoughts and prayers are with Aunt Betty, Dean, Lana, Vicki, Troy, their spouses and all of the grandkids, great grand kids and (great great GK's?) May God give them comfort as they pass through this valley.

Uncle Elvin and Aunt Betty Fox