Good man gone
This Christmas will be very different in our family, as it will be the first we’ll celebrate without my father-in-law, Don, who passed away suddenly at the end of July. In many ways, we couldn’t have been more different. Don grew up on a farm and earned an eighth-grade education. I was a city kid and college boy. As he entered adulthood, he served in the Army motor pool in Korea; I served loose-meat sandwiches at the Wolf Den Drive-in. He got to church an hour before Mass and left before the last song was done. I get there 5 minutes early and linger long after, visiting. We did have common ground. We both liked to build. Working from his own sketches, he added a second story onto their house. Later, he…
