Thursday, August 13, 2009

A big week 16 Bud Light Victory.......Hans Auen MVP.....Goodbye Uncle Buck!


As the results of week 16 were being posted I stood on the South side of the St. Lawrence Parish watching a casket being pushed down the sidewalk to a car that waited. In that casket was my wife's uncle, Chuck Gifford or as I got to know him as...Uncle Buck! It was ironic when we first met as he was a well seasoned, respected and legendary State Farm Insurance agent and I was a young inexperienced independent insurance agent attending a family function with his niece Lynda. I have the fondest memories of Chuck! His laugh, his smile but most of all the way that he always treated me like someone that he knew all of his life.

Over the events of the past week it was apparent that he had treated a lot of people that way. The visitation lines extended from the front door of the St. Lawrence Church down the stairs and then headed South towards the St Lawrence school. Hundreds of people came to pay their respects to a guy who served his country, loved his family and protected the future of thousands with his State Farm services. As I followed the casket up the side walk from the St. Lawrence parking lot on Wednesday morning I felt my eyes well up! You see that sidewalk was lined on both sides with Chuck's State Farm family. This publisher will remember that walk forever! As the events of the day winded down I still could not quite put my hands around the fact that Chuck was gone! His final resting place is just right for him under a tree and just North of some beautiful flowers on a plot selected perfectly for him. He is gone but he will never be forgotten. Thanks for the memories Uncle Buck!

Golf just didn't seem so important this week but it went on with your Bud Light team beating Utilicom 41 to 31 to remain on the top of the Zach Johnson division heading into last week of play. Steve "Hans" Auen extend his MVP lead and was your week 16 MVP. Bud two Troy Auen and long time subscriber, top local amateur, highly successful and more veteran golfer Craig Mertz were both winners with even par 34's. Steve Sinnard added valuable points and ended up in a tie. The lead is 19 as your Bud Light team looks for another Supper League Championship. That is all that I have for week 16!

Fairways and greens to all!
Supper league championship captain
Mike Franey

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Mike,
!Your best blog ever! Great job

Jennifer @ JenniferDukesLee.com said...

Awesome post. Incredible tribute to Uncle Buck.