Daddy Mack

C.S., Mack, Neal, Cornelius...the man of many names. But the one we lovingly refer to him as is Daddy Mack. The man was the most independent 93 year old you've ever met. Until a couple of years ago he was mowing his lawn, cleaning his gutters and driving himself all around town. We heard of Daddy Mack's declining health just a few weeks ago. Even then it was hard to believe. He would talk about how he was about to die because his pacemaker was about 10 years expired but that pacemaker just kept on tickin' and year after year good ol' Daddy Mack was there with his unforgettable laugh, hunched shoulders and toothpick sticking out of his mouth.

The grandkids coined "Daddy Mackisms" that he would try so hard to say just right but things would just get a "little" mixed up. He would talk about how his cough had gotten into his "bronicals" and hearing the man say "Sauvignon blanc" was enough to make anyone laugh. But that is what made Daddy Mack - Daddy Mack. Every time Justin would get off the phone with Daddy Mack, I would wait in anticipation to hear if there was another Daddy Mackism we could add to the list.

Justin lived with Daddy Mack in Memphis after college for two years. Daddy Mack makes me look bad as a wife. He had homemade dinners on the table every night. I mean some good ol' home cooking and was a model to him of what it means to care for and take care of family. While it's been so hard that Justin has lost both of his grandfathers in less than a year, I know that both of these men have meant so much to him in his life and I see that love being passed down through the generations. We miss you Daddy Mack!

Daddy Mack with Justin as a baby (left), Nolan as a baby (right)

Daddy Mack doing his favorite hobby-fishing

Daddy Mack and Nolan-July 2006

And I couldn't find a video of Daddy Mack but he's talking in the background in this video of this and you can hear his contagious laugh.

Here he is pickin' on Justin's guitar in November of 2004 when we were in Memphis celebrating his upcoming 90th birthday.