Sir, You are one of many that loved the Man we called Pop. All you have written about him is very true, only thing I can add is, He was a man of his word and he was as good as his word.If he told you he would do something, he was going to do it come hell or high water. As his No.1 grand child I was his love for me and all the other grandkids and all the great-grandkids. You could tell you were special to him by just talking to him. He is deeply missed by all that knew him.

I must add yet another name. To me, he was Uncle Web (spelled with one “b”). Two “b’s” made his name look too much like a gangster or a cop (Jack Webb). Uncle Web was none of those things. He was better than that. My Dad had another favorite name for him. I can’t remember what it is now. It has been so long since my Dad would grab me for a domino game down at Uncle Web’s house (or up at our house). I couldn’t play dominoes and was even less interested, but I would be grabbed simply because they needed another partner to make up a game of four. I will think of it eventually. When I do, I will let you know.

During the war years, he was the Coal Fire barber. My earliest haircuts came from him. My earliest memories of Uncle Web was when he would set up his barber chair in Dad’s old store, mostly on Saturday, that was in front of our house in Coal Fire when he would cut all the neighborhood kids hair. I am currently in the process of making electronic copies of all of my Mom’s and Dad’s WWII letters from the period between 1944 to 1946. It is my mothers description of these barber sessions that jogged my memory. I am sure that it was Uncle Web’s gentle touch that made me sufficiently brave to face the commercial barbers in Reform later.

Pete,

My Dad did refer to him as Preacher a lot, but that is not the name he used in those domino games. Preacher was more formal. While playing dominoes, he used a name that was more “down to earth” or comradere. I must ask Billy Ray sometimes. Bill was almost always Uncle Web’s partner in those games. I keep thinking of Maw, but that was Uncle Lloyd. Perhaps I will run across it by the time I get done reading the mountain of Mom’s and Dad’s wartime letters.

By the way, Pete, would you be interested in a copy of the CD of those letters when I finish it? It has a lot of Coal Fire and family history of the early Forties era in it. In fact, you are one of the main characters who are often mentioned. There are other characters mentioned that I don’t even remember now (if I ever knew). It is slow work, but I hope to complete it soon. The acidic paper on which the letters were written is now about 66 years old. It is about the last call to get the information off it because the paper is rapidly getting brittle and flaky.