Marvin Boggs

Josh's grandfather, Pappa, died the first week in November. This is the first person to die that has been a significant part of Josh's life.

Mr. Boggs was quite a character. He was a World War II veteran. His main job during the war was as an ambulance driver. He helped clean out one of the concentration camps in Germany. Carol (Josh's mom) said that it was only recently, in the past 9 or so years, that he would talk about what he saw. Josh remembers him telling about how when the engines in the ambulances would die, they would unbolt it, drop it to the ground, put in a new engine, and drive away. No difficult field fixes, just leave the problem and start over!

Josh also likes to tell how Pappa always wore his hats cocked at an angle. And that he told Josh that the best way to impress the ladies was to wear a clean, crisp, white shirt. He had a quiet, yet jovial, manner. He was always up to something. It seemed, to me, that he never asked a direct question. Instead of saying "When can you come visit" he would say "Do you think that Toyota can make it over the Arkansas hills?".

Having come from a family of fair headed-ness he was initially taken aback at Josh's dark features. According to him Josh is the first person in his family to have brown eyes! He was quite the craftsman. Carol would frequently ask him to replicate tables and benches that she saw in Pottery Barn catalogs...and he would. His shop behind their house kept him busy with all kinds of projects. I remember him telling about working on a boat motor. He thought he had fixed the problem but wanted to make sure. So he lowered the prop into a bucket of water and cranked it up...he claimed it took him two days to clean up all the water! He gave us our first lawn mower. It was terribly old but ran great thanks to his tune up. We only replaced it two years ago.

One of my favorite memories is playing Rook with him. He was a champ at talking across the table! You never could tell though if he was being serious or joking and trying to convince you to let him take the bid.

We were able to travel to Arkansas for the funeral. It was great to see family and get caught up on all the news. The service was touching and meaningful. He was buried in a quaint cemetery that had several family members buried there also. Pappa will be greatly missed but we rejoice in the knowledge that he is in heaven.