With heavy hearts we trudge on …

As some of you may know, my father, Walter Tilman Jordan, passed away yesterday at 3:00 AM.  He lived a very long and fruitful life, was married to his soulmate for 53 years, and left behind a legacy of seven children, 12 grandchildren, and 8 great grandchildren, with two more on the way.  He was a dual career man, being a WWII veteran and a long career as a recruiter for the Air Force, and then opening and operating his own business in Madisonville, Kentucky.  He and my mother spent a storybook marriage travelling across the United States while my Mom added to her state capitol spoon collection.

He and my Mom had an amazing life.  Through his career in the Air Force, they ended up living in England for several years.  My older brother Joe had the unique distinction of being born in Okinawa.  On a couple of occasions as children when I had built up the courage, I liked to tell him that he could never be President because of that fact, which led to my being pummelled unmercifully.  My father was heavily involved in the Boy Scouts, and had the honor of having raised six Eagle Scout sons, and one daughter that earned the curved bar award.  And when he had a good bourbon by his side, he could sometimes be urged to share some of the stories of his fascinating life.  But more often than not, he practiced humility.

Even the details of his life with my Mother seem extraordinary in this day and age.  He met my Mother on a blind date on a Halloween Night and they met for drinks at the historic Seelbach Hotel in Louisville.  I found out after my Mother’s death that she was due to be engaged to another man at the time, but apparently you can’t deny what happens when two people that are supposed to be together meet.  They were married in May of the next year and the rest is history. Truth of the matter is hat my Dad was not even looking for a love connection that night.  Seems my Dad went because the grl his friend was meeting “had a friend”.  That being my Mom.  And my Dad later said that he went “expecting a Halloween ghost but he met an angel”.

All throughout my childhood, my parents quarreled like most married couples may, but the truth of the matter is that the quarrels were about how to discipline me and my brothers.  I really do not recall may parents having an argument that was not based on something that me or my brothers had done.

My Dad was the strict disciplinarian, as you would expect from a Senior Master Sergeant in the Air Force.  My Mom was strict as well, but she was the one that went in and smoothed thing over after the discipline was dealt.  My Dad was the big fan of getting us up at 6:00 AM to do chores and work.  I remember very well one when I got caught taking the car out late at night, I had three days in a row of digging a hole and filling it back in.  I have to admit that my smart mouth was probably the root of this punishment as I glibly told him that all the household chores had already been done.  My dad found something for me thought:  digging and filling a hole in his garden, but the lesson was learned.

And of course, my Mom and Dad  were responsible for turning out one of the biggest, most obsessed Kentucky fans in the universe, mainly me.  It’s kind of odd though.  My parents were really the quiet UK fans so it’s odd that union brought about me as I am one of those fans the other schools fans shake their heads at and call obsessed.  To be honest, the picture at the top of the page is the only picture I think I have of my Dad in UK garb. My Mother was a graduate of Kentucky and my Dad was from Mississippi and went to the Air Force shortly after high school.  But as most things in their marriage, Mom’s way won out and the Kentucky games were always on TV at our house.  And most of the time, when UK played, I never had a set bedtime and was allowed to stay up until the game was on.  On the nights I had to go to bed early, my Mom would come in and tell me goodnight and tell me that “UK won”.  If UK lost, she would not tell me but would leave a note for me in the morning with the score of the game.

My parents knew how I was after a UK loss.  Of course, when my Mom can in to tell me goodnight, she always found the radio I had hidden under the covers and put it on my headboard.  She always knew that I was listening to Cawood even though I had been sent to bed.

Even though my parents were not the typical outward UK fans, they were the enablers for my brothers and I to be the rapid Big Blue fans we are today.  I can never remember a Christmas or a birthday that I did not receive plenty of UK and Miami Dolphin gear from them.  And of course, I remember the UK “barnstorming tours” that used to happen in the state and I never missed a single trip to Madisonville that the former UK players made.  I remember them waiting the eternity after the game so I could get my programs and ticket stubs signed.   And it progressed as I went through high school when I refused to even apply for any other colleges other than Kentucky.  As it became apparent that my grades were not going to get me any academic scholarships to Kentucky, we struck a deal.  I would spend a year at Madisonville Community College and see if this “college thing was for me” and I could work on my grades.

I actually got involved in the MCC Student Government for the sheer purpose to try and get tickets for basketball games and probably spent more time plotting and scheming to get tickets and planning road trips to Lexington for the games than I ever spent in class, but I made the grades to get to finish my career at Kentucky.  And even though I am sure the money was an issue as I look back, finances were never even discussed.  I did get some student loans, but they knew my dream was to go to UK so they made sure it happened.

And after we lost my Mom, I would still call my Dad every day after the UK games asking him if he watched the Wildcats the night before.  And of course he always had.  And one those days, we would talk about the UK game as part of my Dad’s infamous 3-4 minute phone calls.  Even though he was not a “superfan” like his kids, he was always aware when the Cats were playing and surprisingly to me, he also followed the UK Hoops season and their run to the Elite Eight as well.  I never figured my Dad for watching ladies basketball, but he surprised me.  We learn things about our parents.

I do have one classic BBN story to share about my parents however.  It goes back a few years to when my Mom took ill and she had to be taken to the emergency room. There was a lot of chaos that day and the night ended with her being put on a respirator.  But during all of that, there was a Kentucky-Arkansas basketball game going on that Saturday.  It was on in my Mom’s hospital room and we all caught glimpses of it while waiting around, but we never got to sit and watch and really did not know who had won the game as the nurses cleared the room as my Mom’s health declined.

It was a few hours later after the game when my brother John went in to talk to her and despite all of the chaos and drama of the day, she was able to speak to him.  And some of my Mom’s last words to my brother was to inform him that “Kentucky won their game today.  I know you would want to know that.”
  Somehow despite all the doctors and nurses working on her and the apparent confusion and fear, she made sure to catch the end of the Kentucky game out of the corner of her eye to let me brother know the outcome because she knew how important it was to us. 

Here’s to life growing up under the Big Blue Enablers.

Peace

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