UNCLE JOHNNY
I've been reading some of the tributes to Uncle Johnny and what struck me was how early our memories are formed. Of course, it's in childhood that we first meet the people who are going to have an impact on us and, because we're at such a formative stage, that impact can be profound and permanent. When I think of Uncle Johnny, so many memories come flooding back and, even though I've been lucky enough to live here in Salt Lake and know him while an adult, those first memories were all of childhood.
And the memories are vivid, whether home-movie induced or from repeated stories, not only the pictures are there but the feelings as well. I feel being in the ocean with Uncle Johnny and my dad, being thrown into the waves, I can feel being in the Poconos where, as we emerged from the lake covered with leeches, Uncle Johnny and Dad peeled them off our body, I can even remember being freezing at a football game in Connecticut. And what stands out to me is the overwhelming sense of security--that these two men would never let anything happen to me. Uncle Johnny could throw me into wave after wave until I couldn't breathe and I could just be happy.
Way before Trivial Pursuits, there was the Jeopardy Board game with the little red, see through cover. You'd remove the $20 piece of cardboard read the question underneath. I clearly remember thinking Uncle John was probably the smartest man in the world. Whoever was on his team won. At least that's what I remember.
But then simplistic memories of childhood give way to the more complex memories of an adult. Uncle Johnny was a man of deep passions and huge commitments. As a kid, I just saw this as exciting. All of my family knows that our family can be loud when things get rocking and the alcohol is flowing. I clearly remember my then very Republican dad, who didn't see the light until his later years, debating with Uncle Johnny some point..it could have been one of a hundred on which they politically disagreed...calling him first a liberal, moving on to damn liberal, then socialist and finally a communist. All I knew is that these discussions were exciting and when we got to the communist piece, things were really going to take off and be fun!
As an adult, I know what I was seeing back then was Uncle John's values at work, his strong sense of justice, of right and wrong and his commitment to the greater good. While I agree with my brother who calls him "cool, calm and collected", I think of it as mellow, when he felt strongly about something, he could 'lose it' just like the rest of us. He felt deeply--especially about the wrongs of the world.
So, this is Uncle Johnny to me--a man who made me feel safe as a child, who challenged my thinking as an adult, who loved his family--that's all of us--who felt injustice profoundly. He was very smart, complicated man who still took the time to make me feel important and loved first as a child and then as an adult. I loved him; I'll miss him; and will always be grateful that he was my uncle.
Kari