Even though I sat and listened to him talk for hours about cars, I never got it through to him that I knew only the basics. Howto change a tire, check oil, that sort of thing. Never was that more evident than the year me and Mary got married. I had lost my Iroc-Z28 and could only afford to buy a VW van from Gene. When we drove it down to Texas, it started acting up, so I took the money we got from the wedding and went to the pawn shop and traded it in for an old Killeen taxi. The Tweety yellow car for about a week. until we got out on the highway in Oklahoma. I had no way of fixing it, and my family were all either too far away, or unavailable for the night. when I called Mr. Mechanic, he confirmed what Mary said was probably wrong with the car, and that he and Dorothy were on their way. We spent the night in the gas station parking lot, and they drove through the night to get to us. It was confirmed, the catalytic converter. No fixing it. So he towed it all the way back to Wisconsin and helped me fix it up. What was funny was that he and Dorothy both had cars just like it. Same car, just different color and 1 was a year different. 6 months later, while he was fixing something on one of the other cars, I used Dorothy's car and hit a patch of "black ice". The car ended up being towed home. Gene saw how bad it was and said, "How did you make it out alive? I'm not a religious man, but even I have to say, Thank You Jesus." He ended up stripping down all 3 cars and making one really good car. with spare parts. So we eventually had a blue/brown/yellow car in the driveway. LOL By then I had restored my credit enough to get a better car, but I will never forget the generosity and love shown by my new family 5 years later Gene once again was willing to make the trip, this time all the way to Texas to help me and Mary move our stuff. He only stayed a few days, but I was grateful. He was a good brother.

Well I too could share many a stories of Mr. GeneO... always working on one project or another ... He was a great carpenter and built a huge book shelf for me. I still have that book shelf, it has made it's round through the family over the years. Cars cars cars cars the master mechanic ... I remember one winter him on the ground on 3 inches of ice working on brakes for a friend, us all begging Gene to come in and get warm ...at least long enough to have some hot coffee, but he would not budge until the job was done. Now do not get me wrong Gene could be a "bit" harsh and cranky sometimes but usually his bark was worse then his bite, with a big heart, with a story to share and with an opinion to be had, but it was to try to get you on the right track. YOU my brother in law will be missed... rest easy Geneo... Love Robin

Although I could tell many a story about the times we would sit in the driveway working on this or that car, my most memorable and significant of our relationship, was the year he gave me a Special Surprise VHS tape. Granted, he had just set the timer, then gone off to his then favorite coffee clutch for a few hours til it was done, and voila a present was born. But the miracle of the season was that 1) he was going thru the Tv Guide and saw my favorite ballet was gonna be on PBS. 2) It wasn't just ANY version of The Nutcracker, but the one starring Mikhail Baryshnikov(he remembered it was my favorite). 3) He thought I might like a copy of it to watch whenever I wanted to. I still have it BTW, even after I could have bought it on DVDs or nowadays streamed it. I still have an old VCR and hookit up and play it every year. Thank You Gene.