Wow, it says to "share a memory" but where to begin, we have so many wonderful memories of Mr. Tony. I remember when we first met Mr. Tony, he was so happy and full of life. We thought he was much younger than he actually was. He started out as a sweet friend and over time became family to us. We shared many wonderful meals together and enjoyed the holidays with him as well. He was a good Christian man and spoke lovingly of his family and his dearly departed wife Mary Jo. He talked of her quite often and said he missed her more with each passing day and couldn't wait until the day he was with her again. He spoke fondly of his church and his friends at church. He loved to tell us stories from when he was a young boy and how he was happy his family had come to this country and how proud he was to be an American. My last happy memory with him was on his 100th birthday, we all threw a big party for him and the police escorted a parade of cars to drive past his home. He was beyond ecstatic and so surprised and could not believe we had all made such a fuss over his 100th birthday. But how could we not for such a wonderful loving man who had served God and his country! 100 was very special and not everyone gets to celebrate that Milestone of a birthday and of all people he was very deserving of a parade! It breaks my heart knowing that we were not able to give him hugs and kisses goodbye due to the state of the world we live in at this time. Although he did talk with us about this and knew of this day might come and we may not be able to go in to give him hugs and kisses so we got as many as we could before this day ever came. We all loved him dearly and he will truly be missed more than most will ever know and the world is a better place because he was in it and if we had more Mr. Tony's today the world would still be better yet. What a wonderful dad, grandfather and great-grandfather he was and his family they were very fortunate to have him. God bless you Mr. Tony, we know you are with your sweet wife now and you are happy and we hope to see you again one day.
We love you lots always,
Doug & Ginny Triplett
XOXOXO
