One evening, when we lived in Russell,  Lon went outside after dinner to work on a project, as he did many evenings. I was standing at the kitchen sink washing dishes,  where there was a window above the sink, and I happened to look up to see Lon with a full sheet of plywood over his head. Our back yard had a small hill which sloped down to the shed and to my amazement,  there he is taking a running start down the hill with the plywood over his head and he eventually stopped by the shed. Upon him coming into the house, I asked him what he was doing outside.  He replied...not too much. I started laughing. He said don't tell me you saw what I did. I said what were you trying to do. He responded...trying to fly. 

My family and I have many wonderful memories of Lon. Our memories go back about 35 to 40 years ago when he lived in NY. We always had so much fun when our families were camping together! My sister and her husband at the time (the late Jeff Miller) always camped in a park on the St. Lawrence River. Some of time I would go along and join them. At that time Lon was married to Sharon and they had theirthree girls. His sense of humor and story telling would just have everyone laughing so hard! We all like drinking a good Bloody Mary.......I remember one time we were making a big batch ahead of time, wondering what we were going to mix them in....so we had a new small garbage can and that is what we used! We often referred to Lon and Jeff as “ Tim the tool man and Al” from the show Home Improvement! His 3 daughters and my niece Amy were always picking on him getting him wound up. Heather, Heidi and Hillary were his pride and joy. Great times that I will never forget. RIP Lon.

I got to meet Lon only after his health battle, but it was very special since I am engaged to his youngest daughter. To say I was nervous is an understatement. He shook my hand and looked me in the eye when I met him, and welcomed me into his home. He gave me his blessing to marry his daughter, and I am forever grateful for that. He had a great sense of humor and made me feel at ease when we spoke. He is dearly missed, and I promised him that I would always be good to his daughter and grandson. Our baby boy will be named in his honor. Rest easy Lon, see you on the other side!