Uncle Bill

If you're old like me, you'll likely remember the TV show Family Affair. The premise was a wealthy bachelor William "Bill" Davis, living in Manhattan with a butler Mr. French. His brother Bob and wife are killed in a car wreck so Bill inherits the children - teen Cissy, and twins, ages about 6, Buffy and Jody. Bill isn't keen on taking on parenthood, but it grows on him as the episodes go by - (especially since Fr. French does most of the tough stuff.)

Photo Courtesy Wikipedia - Buffy (lower right) had a Mrs. Beasley doll - giving me a Jr. High nickname...

I remember the children greeting their uncle running to the door yelling "Uncle Bill, Uncle Bill." I always wanted to do that to my Uncle Bill. Bill Lamm - one of the nicest men I've ever met. Uncle Bill is in the hospital - he has pneumonia and needs your help. Your thoughts, prayers and message to the higher power.

I've known my Uncle Bill since as long as I can remember. He married my Aunt Marty over fifty years ago. She was a single gal teaching school in Denver when they met - her lucky and, and his! The way she tells it, she was fixing to head to Europe and he planned to head off to parts west to be an attorney. Instead, they fell in love and stayed in the Mile High City - raising a great family, my cousins, Richard, David and Amy.

Of course when you're a little kid, you don't pay attention to your relatives much - except when you need something. Uncle Bill was just a guy to me then. It wasn't until I grew up a bit that I took notice. During my college years Marty and Bill hosted us during our travels between Iowa and the ski slopes during spring break. One year they delivered beer to us at our motel near the airport when we were stuck overnight when our flight was cancelled.

These past few years since daughter Amy has lived in Denver, Marty and Bill have invited us to stay with them when we visited the city. Paul and I have so enjoyed the chance to have my aunt and uncle all to ourselves during that time. It's never tough to get a chance to hear my Aunt Martha - even in a crowd. (My mom and dad were never hard to hear either...) Bill is more the silent type, however. So it was a wonderful chance to hear from him.

Uncle Bill is a very spiritual man and he likes to talk about his Catholic faith. He told us about a trip he and Marty took a few years ago through the mountains near Ouray, Colorado. A guy was out working on the roof of the Catholic church and when Bill stopped to chat he found out that was the priest! He covered several parishes in an old Jeep with bald tires - driving over a precarious mountain pass. Marty told us later Bill had sent the guy a check for new tires...that's the kind of guy he is.

Bill is the best listener I know. He'll ask, "Just what is Jud doing now?" or "Tell me how your trip to NY City went" and then listen for an answer with follow up questions. He doesn't zone out, thinking of what he wants to say next. That's something I can be guilty of.

I'm aiming to be more like my Uncle Bill by listening better. To remind myself, I have a foam ear on my desk. So far it's not working very well, but the ear looks cool.

Thank you in advance for prayers or good karma thoughts for the Lamm family and Uncle Bill.