I am Rod’s sister’s husband, Jack. I first met Rod February of 1976 in Spring Lake, Michigan, where Rod and Annette’sparents lived at that time. It was a weekend and we shared a room and I quickly learned of his love for motor and water sports.
His love of motor sports was such that he warned me, in a very nice way, if I knew, do not tell him who had won the Indy 500. He would watch it later in the day and please not ruin the day for him by telling him who won the race. I made sure I followed this advice.
Annette and I were fortunate to take customers to the 2005 running of the Indy 500 and Rod told me in no uncertain terms to make sure I brought ear plugs for all to use because the seats were on the start/ finish line and once the 33 cars started their engines you would think you were at an airport listening to jet engines. I passed the ear plugs out to all involved and just as Rod said the noice was deafening and if you did not have them in your ears once they started their engines you did so in about 2 seconds.
Rod also told me that the seats as good as they were on the start/finish line about 5 rows up were too good. By that he meant we would not see much of the race. In fact after the cars wizzed by you you saw them go into the first turn and then not again for about 45 seconds when they flew by you again.
One time Rod had one of his race cars in the trailer parked in the driveway of hi parents house in Grand Haven and he told me to come outside so I could hear him start the engine. It was a
Sunday morning about
8-9 am and once I heard the roar of the car starting I was glad that many people in the neighborhood were already up and at church. He said the car had a muffler but it did not sound like it to my amateur ears.
On the anniversary of Annette’s 10 year graduation from high school in 1980 he said I could drive his Corvette ( which one this one was I do not remember) and he said that if I passed any Corvettes the guy/ girl I was passing would have one of his hands on the steering wheel and he would wave/ open his fingers on the steering wheel. I thought he was kidding me as I had never heard of such a thing but I will be darned if not every Corvette we passed on both the way to and back home from the reunion did not flash his hand/fingers at me as we passed. I was getting tired of having to do this exercise as we must have passed about 10 corvettes each way on on the 45-60 minute drive.
So the summer of 1981 and 1982 our family and Rod and Nina’s spent at week at Silver Lake in Michigan. The very first day there as we are unpacking Rod says we are getting up at 6 am tomorrow morning. I thought the first day of vacation and I want to sleep in. Rod would not tell me why he wanted to do this so up I got
on Monday morning and it turned out it was to water ski. I had water skied before but never on water that was like skiing on glass. You could clearly see yourself when you were skiing when you looked down at the water. There was not a ripple of a wave on Silver Lake
at 6 am. The water was truly like glass and the swissing sound the skis made on the water was unforgettable. So it was well worth getting up early that day and a few other days where the weather permitted it.
One time Annette was skiing and Rod conveniently deposited her in the water were there was lot of seaweed. There was a twinkle in his eyes when he told me to watch her reaction once she realized where he dropped her into the water. Annette was not amused but it was all in good fun.
Rod was quite a water skier. I never saw him not get up on a slalom ski. Once the boat would start pulling Rod he would disappear under the water and then very quickly he would pop up and onto the one ski. Every time and I saw him do this many times. I never was able to get up on a slalom ski. On a longer one ski, yes, but not a short slalom ski like he did. Of course he would turn backwards when skiing and go from side to side in a severe turn behind the boat that was pulling him and I hardly ever saw him fall.
Then there were the times Rod and I went running. It was Christmas week in Sterling Heights and we went out for a 6 mile run and it was about -5 degrees with a minus 30-40 wind chill factor. I thought he was kidding but he said let’s do it. When we both finished the run we were both sweating as we were bundled up big time to protect ourselves from the cold. We also ran together for the Jeffers Scenic Run which Rod’s Mom organised for the school where she taught near Spring Lake.
I had not made the scene yet when Rod was an active race car driver. I have seen pictures of him in various race cars that he drove over the years. I asked him once why he stopped driving and he said that once Keely was born his racing days were over as racing was taking up all their money and he had a family now. He did race again once Keely and Tyler were out of the house and Annette and I went to the Joliet, Illinois raceway to see him drive in a race. It was very hot that day and he had to wear a suit that was water lined to cool him off from the extreme heat.
One more thing was I know Rod really enjoyed the house in East China on the St. Clair River and seeing the large freighters passing by their back yard on a daily basis. He had books on the various ships and we could quickly go to the book and see when and where the ship was built and how long it was. I found myself doing the same thing every time we visited Rod and Nina at this house.
The thing I remember most about Rod was that he was always upbeat. He always said he was doing great even if you knew he was not. He was always smiling and fun to be around. That is what I will miss most about him.
