A couple of weeks ago the patriarch of my family passed away. Buford Leo Zink, my Pappaw, passed away in his home surrounded by family.
I've been struggling ever since to come up with something to write about him. It's hard to sum up the life of someone you looked up to since you can first remember. It seems both trivial and necessary at the same time. I've thought of listing all the things I'd learned in life from him, or maybe all his accomplishments but these all seem so over done. So I've decided to just tell some stories of things I remember and things I've heard that describe him as I remember him.
My Pappaw was born May 5th 1928 in Palmyra Indiana. As a child he would stand by highway 150, with everyone else in town, and watch all the rich people go by in their cars. This happened once a year when everyone from St. Louis would come to Louisville for the Kentucky Derby. I like to think this inspired his lifelong love of cars.
I've been struggling ever since to come up with something to write about him. It's hard to sum up the life of someone you looked up to since you can first remember. It seems both trivial and necessary at the same time. I've thought of listing all the things I'd learned in life from him, or maybe all his accomplishments but these all seem so over done. So I've decided to just tell some stories of things I remember and things I've heard that describe him as I remember him.
My Pappaw was born May 5th 1928 in Palmyra Indiana. As a child he would stand by highway 150, with everyone else in town, and watch all the rich people go by in their cars. This happened once a year when everyone from St. Louis would come to Louisville for the Kentucky Derby. I like to think this inspired his lifelong love of cars.
He was the star player for the Morgan basketball team. When he graduated high school he did like many men of that time and joined the service, he chose the U.S. Navy. He was assigned to the U.S.S. Boxer. It was an aircraft carrier and he would start off his navy career as a radio operator on a bomber, during the Korean war. He would tell me stories of how they'd go out during the day and fly high above the range of the North Korean anti aircraft guns so they could take pictures of potential bombing targets. They'd get back to the carrier, intelligence officers would review the pictures, then assign targets for them to blow up that night. Then the next morning they'd check the previous nights targets while searching for new ones. Day after day this was his routine. Then one day for some reason his pilot was flying lower than usual and they came under anti aircraft fire. In an instant a bullet ripped through the plane and shattered his five point shoulder harness that kept him secured to his radio seat. He was not wounded in the least, but the radio was also destroyed. Not a single light remained lit, the dials were all dead and he could hear nothing from the carrier. They were going down fast. He radioed their coordinates in a distress signal not knowing if the radio was putting any signal out at all. They crash landed in the cold East China Sea. For hour after hour the crew clung to floating debri and hoped that a rescue chopper would come and save them. Pappaw told me that it was the coldest he'd ever been and he had decided that he was about to meet his maker when a tiny spec appeared on the horizon. It was a rescue chopper. His distress call had transmitted. The men were so cold that their numb hands couldn't grab that lowered rope ladder. They had to wedge their arms in the ropes to get hoisted up. Pappaw was a hero. His fast thinking had saved those mens & and his own life. He finished up his service in the maintenance shop where he had a plane prop fall across his feet. He was hobbled for life but refused to take any disability money from the Navy since it was money he didn't work for. That's just the kind of man he was.
When I was born (the first of his grandkids) my Pappaw decided that all his grandkids were going to know how to swim. He went out and bought the biggest, pool available at the time. One day when I was 2 I was riding my tricycle around the pool while Pappaw was sweeping it out. As I rounded the corner my back wheel got caught on the edge and I tipped over head first into the pool, never letting go of my trike. Pappaw acted in a flash and pulled me up by the ankle. He had literally saved my life. I would grow up spending my summers in that pool, learning to swim and love the water. A few quick years later I was on the varsity swim team winning Indiana & Kentucky state titles as well as a state record that still stand today. I know that all started with Pappaw deciding that I was going to know how to swim from day one.
My Pappaw was a man of few words. A member of a generation where men were men. They didn't need to speak because you knew how they felt by their actions. I remember one time when I was about 5 my cousins and I tried to run away to the local grocer because she always gave us bubble gum and the grown ups wouldn't. As we hit the rural road with our bikes two trucks came speeding up the driveway after us. My uncle jumped out of one and jerked my cousin up and began paddling her, I thought to myself, "I'm glad my dad's not here to do that to me." That's when Pappaw jumped out of the other truck and painted my back porch red. At that point I was wishing that Dad was there instead. Nobody spanked like Pappaw, and I knew I had done wrong, and he never said a word.
My Pappaw was also a man who believed in doing things right, and taking pride in your work. For years he worked at Ford motor company and farmed on the side. When his work day at the plant was over his work day at the farm was just beginning. I can remember one story about how he had a fence row to put up when he got off work. My Granny had tried to surprise him by digging and setting all the posts while he was at work. The only problem was that her fence row was "as crooked as a snake". Pappaw was so worried that someone might see it that he dug the whole fence row up and did the whole job over again. If you did a job, then you did it right. That's just how he felt, and his work always reflected it. When he finally retired from Ford motor company he had only missed one day in over 30 years of service. The story goes that he was going to be late (he drove an hour each way) so he made my grandmother call in and say he was sick because he couldn't show up late. That was the only day he ever missed. Years later I worked part time in the same plant where my Pappaw worked. I found a plaque on the wall that listed all the retiree's names. The first thing I did was found his name and took a picture of it.
As I sit back now and reflect I'm flooded with memories. Mostly little things like sitting on the back of a horse while he led it around the field, talking in the garage while he swatted the flies, working on his old cars, swimming while he watched from the deck, riding the 4 wheeler he bought me. So many things in my life were shaped by how he led his, and I think that I'll always carry that thought with me. Hoping that how I lead my life will have a positive impact on those around me, just as he did.
When I was born (the first of his grandkids) my Pappaw decided that all his grandkids were going to know how to swim. He went out and bought the biggest, pool available at the time. One day when I was 2 I was riding my tricycle around the pool while Pappaw was sweeping it out. As I rounded the corner my back wheel got caught on the edge and I tipped over head first into the pool, never letting go of my trike. Pappaw acted in a flash and pulled me up by the ankle. He had literally saved my life. I would grow up spending my summers in that pool, learning to swim and love the water. A few quick years later I was on the varsity swim team winning Indiana & Kentucky state titles as well as a state record that still stand today. I know that all started with Pappaw deciding that I was going to know how to swim from day one.
My Pappaw was a man of few words. A member of a generation where men were men. They didn't need to speak because you knew how they felt by their actions. I remember one time when I was about 5 my cousins and I tried to run away to the local grocer because she always gave us bubble gum and the grown ups wouldn't. As we hit the rural road with our bikes two trucks came speeding up the driveway after us. My uncle jumped out of one and jerked my cousin up and began paddling her, I thought to myself, "I'm glad my dad's not here to do that to me." That's when Pappaw jumped out of the other truck and painted my back porch red. At that point I was wishing that Dad was there instead. Nobody spanked like Pappaw, and I knew I had done wrong, and he never said a word.
My Pappaw was also a man who believed in doing things right, and taking pride in your work. For years he worked at Ford motor company and farmed on the side. When his work day at the plant was over his work day at the farm was just beginning. I can remember one story about how he had a fence row to put up when he got off work. My Granny had tried to surprise him by digging and setting all the posts while he was at work. The only problem was that her fence row was "as crooked as a snake". Pappaw was so worried that someone might see it that he dug the whole fence row up and did the whole job over again. If you did a job, then you did it right. That's just how he felt, and his work always reflected it. When he finally retired from Ford motor company he had only missed one day in over 30 years of service. The story goes that he was going to be late (he drove an hour each way) so he made my grandmother call in and say he was sick because he couldn't show up late. That was the only day he ever missed. Years later I worked part time in the same plant where my Pappaw worked. I found a plaque on the wall that listed all the retiree's names. The first thing I did was found his name and took a picture of it.
As I sit back now and reflect I'm flooded with memories. Mostly little things like sitting on the back of a horse while he led it around the field, talking in the garage while he swatted the flies, working on his old cars, swimming while he watched from the deck, riding the 4 wheeler he bought me. So many things in my life were shaped by how he led his, and I think that I'll always carry that thought with me. Hoping that how I lead my life will have a positive impact on those around me, just as he did.
Since I first started writing this blog I've found out that I and my brother will both be having babies in April. We both got the news about 3 weeks after Pappaw's funeral. These babies will be the first great grandchildren for my Granny and the first grandchildren for my mom. Though I wish Pappaw could have lived long enough to see them here on earth I know he'll be watching them from afar. And since his passing was made so much easier to bear by the news of two new family members I can't help but wonder if his time to pass was more than just coincidence.
