This morning our son Lincoln asks for us to sing the "slippery slidey" song.  It's been awhile since we sang that one together.  It's a bathtime song that my Dad used to sing to me along with a similar one about a fish without a bathing suit.  This song is about a bar of soap that goes "slippery slidey all over your hidey"  Im certain that would have been an awesome present for our Dad.  His grandson asks for one of his songs.  A generational gifting of tradition......he'd smile.  

Last Friday I drove to Topeka.  I was right next to the capitol and thought there are some cool paintings in there and the archetecture is amazing as well.  I thought this is something my Dad and I would go together and explore and talk about what it must have been like building and designing this building in the late 1800's.  And with that thought there was enough motivation to take a quick peek inside.  ( I was kinda late for returning home ) I imagined us together there.  He would have enjoyed it.

We were saddened to learn that Dick recently had passed away. We last saw him at my dad's visitation in May of 2011. When looking at the posted photos, we were amazed to find that number 54 of 138 was a picture of him and my folks! That got mom digging into an old photo album that had a number of pictures from the '50s, most of them in deplorable condition, but salvageable.

I must have been about 5 when I first met "Dickie" Moore. My parents insisted that we kids call him "Mr. Moore", but he would have none of that. They were close enough friends that they were his godparents at his baptism (photo attached; let me know if you'd like the others) and in turn he was godfather to my brother Jim. I thought he looked like a movie star. He was big and handsome, had a dazzling smile, a ready laugh, and thick, wavy head of hair. He drove an MG roadster, red as I recall, and I always noticed how he wore his watch (see 54/138) and that he rolled his sleeves up by turning them to the inside, rather than the outside.

Another good man gone. But certainly not forgotten. Please accept our condolences.

--Bill Marshall (III) on behalf of the family.

I remember so many times that my Dad, Charlie Van Trease, and Mr. Moore would sit around telling stories and jokes.  I have never laughed so hard in my entire life as when those 2 got together.  Mr. Moore knew the BEST jokes and could tell them probably better than my Dad.  I remember the one joke about "Gesepi the Architect".  I can't write the joke on this site, but it was the funniest joke I've ever heard and I've told it a thousand times myself.  Each time I tell that joke I think of the great man that originally told me.  My Dad loved Mr. Moore.  They were just happy men who didn't spend a lot of time worrying about things; they just wanted to have a beer and tell jokes.  I can remember many times my Dad would be sitting around the house (especially in the winter; he hated winters) feeling kind of blue and Mr. Moore would call.  An hour later Dad was in the best mood ever.  I don't know how those two conversed because all I heard was laughing.  

I miss them both so much!!! 

My Dad liked Charlie a whole lot.  Charlie and his family moved from Kansas City to live in Austin, Texas.  I know my Dad considered moving there many times.  I'm sure they would have been had a good time flying and held hangar parties.  I even obtained a medical license to practice in Texas just in case.  I remember getting excited when they would talk on the phone.  There was always a great deal of story telling and lots of laughing.  My Dad would hand me the phone too.  Charlie always made you feel good and his original thinking and style of word placement combined with a BIG Texas accent made it so much fun.  He would enunciate unexpected parts of words too.... "That AIR-plane is CON-stant-ly trying to keiLLL you"... I can hear him talking...this video soundtrack is a good example of close friends.  They could recite some of the same stuff and here they did so together.  This recording was from the departing day of a trip my Dad and I took to visit Charlie and his family.  We went out to the "Ranch" in Lampassas where Rolla was waiting for us.  Charlie enjoyed showing us around the ranch; the old graves, the deer stands and the firing range.  There was even some heavy equipment for real men to move earth at their will.  He gave me some really good advice on flying that I wrote down and use.  Charlie told me he liked to turn off his transponder while flying his personal plane.  I guess he liked to fly around without anyone knowing where he was.  I'm not sure if he was pulling my leg, but I thought it was funny.  I know my Dad enjoyed seeing him a great deal.  That trip was the last time they would see one another here on this planet. I know they are happy.

Movies were a big part of my relationship with my dad.  It was a common denominator that we could always turn to.  It started early on when he got one of the first VCR’s, a top-loading beast that weighed a ton.  We had three movies; Grease, Caddyshack, and The In-Laws.  Three of my favorite movies to this day.

Our love for movies continued and I remember he took me to my first rated-R movie, “Beverly Hills Cop” at the Metcalf South movie theatre.  The perfect father-son bonding experience I say.  Another thing we’d do was sneak out on Christmas Day to catch a flic after all the Christmas festivities were over.  One specific time I remember was going to see “Throw Mamma from the Train” at the old Plaza movie theatre.  He laughed so hard and so loud and was so animated, that the other people in the theatre began laughing at HIM!  I was so embarrassed I vowed never to see a movie with him again, but we both knew that was an empty threat.  He continued those same antics whenever we saw a good comedy.

At some point, we started taking turns on who would pick the movie we were going to see.  If we were sitting there and the movie wasn’t very good, he’d nudge me and say, “You picked this movie?” or “Did I pick this movie?”  It was always a good feeling when I’d answer one of his calls and he’d say all excited, “Who’s turn is it?!” We’d meet at Planet Sub or BD’s Mongolian BBQ and figure it out what was playing.  It didn’t really matter though.  It was the ritual that counted.

I saved a lot of the ticket stubs from our movie outings.  As you can see, there are some good ones and some bad ones.  I know he would be nudging me and smiling about the bad ones. 

When I was a little one my Dad would take me with him to work and to the airplane hangar.  I always felt he included me in fun things like building stuff and going tinker with the airplane.  He had an open cockpit airplane, Ryan PT-22.  I remember climbing all over it and sitting inside the front seat.  My Dad sometimes had daytime parties at the airport hangar.  There was always competitions... tug of war with 50 lb bag of flour in the center for the losing team to be dragged through, a potato sack race and food.  I remember being strapped in to my cousin Dave in the front seat of the Ryan for the only ride I can remember.  My Dad told me later in life that he was terrified I would climb out of the seatbelt during the flight and his solution was to strap me in with my cousin.  Dave later became an air force pilot.  I am so appreciative my Dad had this hobby as it became mine as well.  I learned to fly at Falcon Field in Mesa Arizona in 2004.  My Dad flew out from Kansas City to provide confidence and participate in my first solo.  After take off I couldn't wait to get back down on the ground to see his face and I honestly I was scared up there all by myself.  His face was so proud and he gave me one of his big warm strong hugs.  He always let me know he was proud of my flying. He let me know many times how I handled cross wind landings very well.  He told me from the ground, he could tell by the position of the plane on final what I was doing up there.  We flew together as well.  Our last flight together was to Forbes field in Topeka with Charlie Smith to see the museum there.  That's about the only thing there to see.
 
One time I let him know I would do a low pass over his farm.  I thought he'd be impressed with some speed, after all he always wanted to fly that Spitfire, so from 3000 ft and seeing the farm a couple miles away I pulled back power and prop and quickly traded altitude for even more speed.  He was waiting out in the driveway in antitipation.  I saw him waiving with a little bank giving view.  A few more passes at lower speed and back to the airport. He later told me it was quite emotional for him.  He was so proud of his son, part him, up there with that loud manly machine flying through the air over top of him.  I was so happy to do that for him.

I loved to listen to his old flying stories.....otherwise known as hangar flying.  He spoke of learning to fly and soloing at 10 hours total time.  CRA ZY!  He must have been very good, very early.  He told me many stories.  A couple of them were kind of scary.  He lost power going in to the downtown Kansas City airport just over the river.  Fortunately the runway was about 100 yards from the river and he landed on it.  
He told me about being "IFR above the clouds" - meaning you cant see the ground below because of clouds, but its a clear view above the clouds.  He and a friend needed to land quickly as they were already on reserve tanks when a little break in the clouds below exposed none other than a runway.  They quckly landed and found out the airport was closed... as in permanantly closed...runway closed.  An old farmer saw them land and drove them on his tractor to get some gas down the road.  Off they went....
Another time, another pilot asked for a ride in the open cockpit PT 22.  Of course my Dad was happy to take him up.  The pilot who is "in command" of this type of plane sits in the back seat and the other person in the front seat.  I think this is necessary because the view is better from the back.  Somehow they decided the other pilot would be "in command" and sit in the rear seat.  To make matters more challenging the only way to communicate at this time was by passing notes from back to front and vice versa.  So they take off and on return the pilot in rear passes a note saying he's changed his mind about landing and my Dad will have to land it from the front seat.  He told me he had never done that before.  This reminds me of something else....He said his Grandpa Jack told him, "never practice anything you have to do perfect the first time"...I think that's supposed to be funny....   So he now had to land the plane.  He told me this plane really doesn't glide at all.  You have to fly it all the way down to the ground or it will flip over.  And even after touchdown, it being a taildragger airplane you had to hold your joy of touchdown until you actually slowed down with three wheels upon the runway as this plane really wanted to take a sharp left and chop anything in its way.  So this time after touchdown, first time in the front seat, the plane did just that.  It must have been in the fall as he said they chopped a lot of corn in the field next to the runway.  The pilot in the rear I'm sure needed a change of drawers.  To  get out of the field they just kept chopping corn, turning right back around toward the runway.  Fun story.

He's survived a lot of things that could have gotten worse.  I'm grateful. 

My uncle Richard was great at staying in touch and checking in with me.  One day he says "Lets go to a movie, my treat."  It was one of those rare evenings when I was without kids so I was excited to have something to do.  

I can't remember the movie we saw but as we were walking out of the theatre Richard says "hey, have you seen this movie?" pointing to one of the other theatres.  I said "no" so he gets this death grip on my arm and pulls me into the theatre where the movie was already started.  In essence, we were getting a sneak peak.

As you can imagine the theatre was pretty dark and our eyes hadn't adjusted yet and Richard walked straight into a huge trash can making the loudest noise you can imagine.  We started giggling because we both thought that it was the funniest thing ever and we continued to giggle like two school girls for about 10 minutes.  Of course the theatre was pretty packed and we had to sit right up front but we didn't care.  I wish I could remember the movie!

That trip to the movies has brought me more chuckles throughout life and I'm thankful for the memories!  

I sure miss him but will always have laughter in my heart because of him! 

Growing up, my dad was always making up new nicknames for me.  He even went so far as to have a t-shirt custom made with all the names listed.  Some I liked, some not so much.  But no matter which nickname he used, they were all embarrassing when used in public, especially around my friends.  

A story my dad always loved to tell was a time i was playing 3&2 Baseball and was up to bat.  Dad yells from the stands, "Get a hit Jimmy Jim!"  As the story goes, i stepped away from the plate, walked to the backstop, and said in front of everybody, "Don't.  Call.  Me.  Jimmy Jim."  And walked back to the batters box.  I'm sure he got some pretty funny looks from the other parents.

I still have the original shirt and many years later, i had a replica adult size shirt made and gave it to him for his birthday.

One friday night i had arranged to spend the night at a friends.  Not yet 16, dad had to drop me off.  My friend went out to eat with his parents and was a little late getting back so my dad and i were left to sit in the car outside their house until they got back from dinner.  This was a time of rebellion, where i wasn't getting along with my dad as is with most teenagers.  After about 5 minutes of complete silence sitting in that car, i quoted a line from one of our favorite movies, Beverly Hills Cop (which also happens to be the first R rated movie i ever went to courtesy of my dad) "I've noticed you've been drinking a lot of coffee lately."

Dad completely lost it.  

And i completely lost it.

It was the first time that i can remember making my dad laugh uncontrollably.  And then, we sat there and quoted more lines from Beverly Hills Cop until my friend showed up. 

I don't remember what my friends and i did that night, but i will always remember the 30 some-odd-minutes my dad and i spent waiting outside his house laughing and quoting lines from a movie we both loved.