Tribute to Uncle Henry

We lost an honored patriot, Uncle and dear Friend this last week.  His name is Henry Maday.  He was a favorite Uncle of mine and will miss him a lot.  We lost his "Bride", Aunt Phyllis a few years back, and he really missed her.  With our belief system and our Faith in God, they are together rejoicing in Heaven as we write this.  I was asked that if there was an experience, or event, etc. that I would share (with I am sure, many others) at his funeral.  "Please forward it and they would read it at Uncle's "send-off'."  The following is what I sent.

Uncle Henry to the Rescue

This is a story of Heroics a long time ago in an ear far far behind us.

The place was South Minneapolis.  The Saffell family lived on 37th Street in South Minneapolis only one block from the family business.  Uncle Henry and Aunt Phyllis lived close by as well.  The night was bright with a full moon.  Our parents were out for a while grocery shopping (as I remember) and Sister Suzanne, Brothers Guy and Gregg and I were home watching TV (I think).  I was going upstairs during a commercial break and, as usual, our bathroom light was on (being used as a night light) and the stairway being narrow, all of a sudden a HUGE bat darkened the stairway as it came gliding toward me, what seemed to be just barely clearing the side walls of the stairway.  I turned yelling "BAT!!" to warn Suzanne and the boys, as I ran to the living room.  When I got there, Suzanne and the boys WITH Goldie our dog, were in the front closet holding the door shut.  Dropping to the floor and searching for our intruder, silence became deafening.  Then Suzanne whispered "Call Uncle Henry, he'll know what to do."  Good idea.  I belly crawled to the phone and got Uncle, told him what the challenge was, and he said "I'll be right over."

When he arrived we found a fish landing net on the back porch and into the house we went.  I was much braver now that our Hero was among us.  As we searched for the bat, we got to the living room and there it was . . . hanging from the curtain rod, silhouetted by the full moon.  A couple of swift twists and turns of the net, and Uncle Henry captured the intruder and hustled it outside where the boys had their wading pool set up.  When we came in, we sounded the "all clear" and Suzanne, the boys and Goldie joined us in a grand celebration of our Hero's successful quest and all was well with our kingdom once again.  All Hail Uncle Henry the Mighty Conqueror!


That is what was read at Uncle's send-off.

There are other stories I could tell, but maybe another time I could retell them, like of our time together at Billy B's cabin in the winter. Clue: An Ice fishing house is not a good place to try your casting skills.  And Bears rarely come close enough to mess with you especially while you are in an outhouse . . . in the winter.

Hope you enjoyed this issue and the continuing saga of the Life and Times of Gary Saffell.

I will leave you with this for you to think about:  There is a God...whether you believe it or not.  It is not about you, and it is not about me.  It is about God and his love for us.  God is the main emphasis in our life.  We are bit players, moving through life.  His Son was sacrificed for our sin, with the purpose of Accepting Him, and when our time on earth has been used up....we get to spend eternity with Father God.  Your choice is to believe it and join us or not believe and deal with the results.  We can debate theology from now until the cows come home, and you may or may not understand the truth, or you do understand the truth, but it is unacceptable to you, for some reason.  I chose the Loving God, His Son, our Savior and Redeemer, and the Holy Spirit.  Hope to see you on the other side when our time comes.

Remember,
Keep singing, Keep smiling, Keep Laughing

Blessings,
Gary