Uncle Rollie has passed. I'm sad to see him go. But I've decided to remember him today like I saw him as a little boy up in Grandma & Grandpa Goings house in Waterloo. Most of my early memories of him were in that house.It was there that he convinced me that he must truly be the strongest man in the world. Not only did he have big muscles from lifting all those heavy weights...but he could pick up Shirley and put her over his head too!
Most of all I remember his fishing stories. Now, I not sure all of them were exactly 100% true. But if they wern't, I don't wanna know.
It wasn't just the different kinds and sizes of fish he caught that intrigued me, it was how he caught them. Some musta been epic battles with honest to goodness lunkers....or at least that is how I recall it. He used to talk about the poles,baits, lines, sinkers and reels...it was like Uncle Rollie was living the life of a outdoor magazine fisherman on the banks of the Cedar River - oh, and who can forget when he got stabbed fishing out there one night? Mom & Grandma could talk of nothing else for weeks.
But most of all I will remember most that he, much like Aunt Shirley, used to talk to their nieces and nephews,really talk to us...he seemed to understand that he was not just Uncle Rollie to us, but our hero too. I will never forget him.
Steve Karr
08/10/2016
Uncle Rollie has passed. I'm sad to see him go. But I've decided to remember him today like I saw him as a little boy up in Grandma & Grandpa Goings house in Waterloo. Most of my early memories of him were in that house.It was there that he convinced me that he must truly be the strongest man in the world. Not only did he have big muscles from lifting all those heavy weights...but he could pick up Shirley and put her over his head too!
Most of all I remember his fishing stories. Now, I not sure all of them were exactly 100% true. But if they wern't, I don't wanna know.
It wasn't just the different kinds and sizes of fish he caught that intrigued me, it was how he caught them. Some musta been epic battles with honest to goodness lunkers....or at least that is how I recall it. He used to talk about the poles,baits, lines, sinkers and reels...it was like Uncle Rollie was living the life of a outdoor magazine fisherman on the banks of the Cedar River - oh, and who can forget when he got stabbed fishing out there one night? Mom & Grandma could talk of nothing else for weeks.
But most of all I will remember most that he, much like Aunt Shirley, used to talk to their nieces and nephews,really talk to us...he seemed to understand that he was not just Uncle Rollie to us, but our hero too. I will never forget him.