Hi Ya'll, It's Me Again.
We all suffered a great loss not so very long ago. Our brother Larry. Larry always called me Bro,Lilly, and I know you said it bothered you that he always called you "Sis." But that was Larry. And now you say how much you miss that, so do I. I really don't know what he called our other siblings, I'm assuming it was the same. But the word "Bro" was always used between him and I. I always looked at it as a special bonding between him and I.
I know that there was things that happened between Larry and some of you. I cannot say if any of it was true or not . I just don't know. But I'm not going to address those issues. I just don't want to. Everyone has to deal with those issues own their own. SORRY,for those who may have been affected in any way. But that's all I have to say about that.
I will say these things about my "Bro." I lived with Larry in Brownsville, TX. and worked with him on a shrimp boat for almost two years. We made a lot of money, I mean A LOT OF MONEY, for the times. Larry died a poor man with hardly nothing to show for all his hard work. Do ya'll know why ? He gave ever thing he ever had or earned away.If Larry had or owned something and you wanted it all you had to do was ask for it and it was yours. This to me makes him a very GENEROUS person.
Larry was a little strange as we all know. He would show up some times unannounced and stay for as long as he wanted. He was strange in other ways also as ya'll all know. I'm sure he was strange differently to each one of us. But at no time, not ever did Larry do or show any disrespect to me,Cheryl or either one of my children,Ever. This to me means that he was RESPECTABLE in his own way.
As I said I worked with Larry on a shrimp boat but I also worked side by side with him on other occasions doing different jobs and projects. And I'm here to tell you he was one hard working man. He was almost impossible to keep up with,for me any way. I know of only one other person who could out work Larry and that is Uncle Luke. I worked with him also. He was also impossible. You never,ever,EVER want to work side by side with Uncle Luke and Larry.(LOL) I wasn't there but I was told more than once that they worked together when Uncle Luke had a crew that Larry was on. Them two would out work a crew of four or five men. And put them to shame. Uncle Luke had a hard time keeping a crew because of this. And he didn't care because he had Larry on his side. This means to me that he was a HARD WORKING MAN.
To the best of my knowledge and my knowledge on this is very deep. Larry always did right by his children. He always loved them was proud of them and cared for them to make sure they always had what ever they needed.He was so oh so very proud of them. It must be even harder on Thaisy and Yuri then it is on any of us. I can't imagine what they have been going thru. This means to me that he was a very GOOD FATHER.
He was not only "MY BRO" but he was a very good friend to me. I will always miss him.
So lets reflec on this and what it might mean:Larry "My Bro" was Generous,Respectable,Hard Working and a Good Father.
I wish that when Im gone from this Earth someone could and would say of me , "He was Generous, Respectable,Hard Working and a Good Father. I can only hope and wish that I can live up to the standers of "MY BRO."
LUV-U-ALL
Peter, Your Bro.
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well said, big brother, well said.
ReplyDeletelove, lil
Yes, I agree, well said! And, to add to that, I won't make the same mistake as I did with Larry. I am here to tell you before you are gone that you are generous, respectable, hard working and a GREAT FATHER!
ReplyDeleteLove ya Lots,
Rosie
WELL, I GUESS I WAS THE LEAST CLOSEST TO LARRY. I LOVE HIM, AND I MISS HIM, HE WAS MY BROTHER, BUT I JUST WASN'T AS CLOSE TO HIM AS I WAS TO EVERYONE ELSE. MAYBE IT'S BECAUSE HE WAS GONE FOR MOST OF MY LIFE. I DON'T KNOW BUT I THINK ABOUT HIM ALL THE TIME
ReplyDeleteLOVE,
RONNIE
Thank you for posting such kind words about my father. I love and miss him very very much. I am proud to have his blood running through my veins. I am proud to carry the last name Collins. My dad loved, cared, helped, supported, and brought happiness to many people. He loved his children, parents, grandchildren, brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles, and his friends. He would have given the back off of his shirt for anyone. I miss his laugh, his cooking,his craziness, his guitar playing, and his love. He was a wonderful father. He was gone alot, but that was part of his free spirit. I always knew that even though he wasnt in the same state that we were in his mind prayers and in his heart. When he passed away we found many pictures and letters showing it. A big part of my heart died with him that day. I never imagined loosing my father at such a young age. I still had so much left in my life to accomplish and always imagined him by my side. I wish he could see my beautiful daughter and handsome nephew grow, walk me down the aisle, and be there to watch my brothers build their lives. I miss talking to my dad. He gave advice from the heart. I love him so much. Sometimes I smell him or I feel him. When I am sad he brings me a smell or a touch to comfort me. To those of you who knew him you were lucky to those of you who didnt I wish you had. Poppy Larry, I am lucky to have had you as a father, mentor, friend, and a role model. I miss and love you and You will always be in my heart.
ReplyDeleteWelcome, Thaisy!!!!!
ReplyDeleteGlad to see you here. You will learn lots about this family if you
stick around Uncle Peter and my blog.....
lots of old family stories going here!!!
who know, one day you may be the subject!!!
love, aunt lil
Oh, Thaisy, Welcome aboard.
ReplyDeleteI so glad to here from you and welcome to our Family Blog. I sure hope you will become a follower of both My and your Aunt Lillys Blog sites. I also have a request of you and that is to give these sites to the rest of your family so they may also become followers of the family. Not too long ago you requested me to tell you stories and things about your Poppy. Well this is the place for it. This is so much better then trying to E-mail. This way you can contribute at any time.
I will be posting other things about your Poppy and about you and the rest of your family that I know of on this site.
Again welcome aboard and I hope we continue to here from you. Remember you can also contribute to this at any time.
I luv u very much,
Hopefully We'll Here From You Some More.
Later,
Uncle Peter
Hi, Everybody!!! (I'm still mad that y'all didn't tell me about this site!!!))
ReplyDeleteI think it very appropriate, at this time, to post what I wrote and read for Larry's Memorial Service. We all agree that he was hard working, caring, free-sprited and if there is one word that I've always linked with my brother it is "GIVING".
"Thanks to everyone for being here to celebrate the passing of my brother, Larry, who, next month, would have been 66 years old.
He served in the U.S. Army for three years in Fort Braggs, North Carolina during the Cuban Crisis.
My brother was married, for many years, to Lupita, and together they resided in Brownsville, TX and had three beautiful children, Thaisy, Yuri and Nashette Collins. Thaisy has a 15 year old dauther, Kasbini, and Yuri had an 8 year old son, Ethan. Larry had many things which he enjoyed, but, like my Dad, he was most certainly a fisherman at heart. While my Dad spent his fishing time catching speckled trout, Larry spent many years on a trawl boat off the coast of Brownsville doing what he loved the most.
He also had a love for music and I can remember, as a young girl, he and his good friend, Kenneth Cheramie, playing music in my parents' kitchen. I presently live in that same warm home and from time to time, I can hear Kenneth blowing his horn beautifully, bringing me back, for just a moment, to those happy childhood times.
We can all agree that Larry was a drifter. He'd disappear for years at a time and then just show up one day for a cup of coffee and be gone just a quickly as he arrived. He also had a very big heart and was very kind and has been known to visit prisons, bringing bibles and rosaries, and to talk to the inmates for no other reason than to share kindness.
My sister, Lilly, wanted to share one of her fondest memories of her Perrin Larry. She most remembers the parties that always surrounded his announced visits home to Mom and Dad. He was like the prodigal son coming home and Dad was going to "kill the fattened calf" upon his arrival. She says the visits are so memorable because it was always associated with a BBQ party for everyone to enjoy and make the "Vey ya". Dad would have enough BBQ to feed the whole Town of Golden Meadow, which was good becasue when our family got together it was about as big as Golden Meadow. Lilly is also very fond of the memory of our two brothers and their friends getting together with guitars to play and sing until the wee hours of the morning. After a few beers they truly believed that they really could sing, and she, as a little girl, thought they were a band. As the party went on inside, the younger siblings, our nieces and nephews and other children of Larry and Peter's friends were allowed to run around the yard and play games well past the sun going down with our brothers' voices coming to us in the night.
Our parents were always happiest when we were all together, but when Larry and Peter came home, we know all rules of bedtime would be broken.
It is evident that Larry's fondest life memories were the same as my sisters, because in talking to my brother on the phone during his last week at the VA Hospital in Houston, he kept telling me that we were going to have this big gigantic BBQ and everyone on his third floor, including doctors and nurses, were invitied. He also told them that there was going to be 25 of his families and friends coming to visit him and kept talking about the BBQ on Saturday. It's unforntunate, however, that we didn't get to see him before passing, but you can bet that on the same Saturday evening, in his mrmory, we all went out to eat BBQ at a place called "Poppa's", which oddly enough, is what his children called him. And do you know, low and behold, when we looked around our huge table of family and friends and began to count how many of us would have been at Larry's BBQ party, had he not died, the number was exactly 25.
For the past couple of years, Larry has been living very happily in Honduras with his new bride, Irene. She says that they attended mass each and every Sunday as a family and she will miss him very much.
Larry's final resting place will be in the beautifuly VA Cemetary in Houston, Tx. His last words to his son, Yuri, before closing his eyes was, "I'm Gone Fishing With Daddy", which will be same words that will appear on his headstone in Houston."
Family, it's too bad that we never got that wording on his headstone, but if anyone has any ideas on how we can get that done, I think that it would be a wonderful time for us visit with him and his family.
Love to all,
C
P.S. I'm not mad anymore about y'all not telling be about this blog, okay?? ;-)
Very good posting C and I didn't know you didn't know about the site or I would have been the "good Sister" and told you!!!!! I also think it is a good idea to try and get that on his headstone and I really think we owe Mom a trip cause she really wants to go so bad.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Rosie
Celena, that was an outstanding writting. You should be very proud that these words came to you. I'm sorry I wasn't at Larry's Memorial Service.(But that is another story for a later date.) I would have loved to hear you say those words instead of only reading them. But it was great reading. THANKS A LOT FOR SHARING THESE WONDERFUL WORDS WITH US.
ReplyDeleteLUV-U
Peter
Oh C, i am so glad you posted that
ReplyDeletei remember how special it was when you read it but forgot exactly how it went now i have it preserved...
I also want to share that me and Mom were the first to enter the church on the day of Larry's memorial service and as we walked in the most beautiful trumpet sounds were heard all over our family church.
By the time we got to the altar, whoever was playing was gone but me and Mom knew it was Kenneth playing in memory of his old friend.
He did not make the memorial and Mone told me that later he told her he just couldn't be there, it was too hard..
this week he buries his wife, Patsy.
Pray for our old friend, Kenneth and his family
Yes, Prayers and thoughts most certainly go out to the Cheramie's!! I'm glad y'all enjoyed the writing. I only wish we could have got Mone's dedication scripted somehow. Since I was up on the alter, I was not able to hear what she was saying, but looking into the congregation, I know that everyone took her to heart and enjoyed her words as well...she even had them laughing..What a special lady our Mone is..
ReplyDeleteC
An afterthough about Mom...I know how much she might like to visit Houston again, but in my heart, I just don't think it's a good idea. I think that Mom, right now is in a very good place and demeanor and I'm so afraid that if we attempt to burst the bubble in which she now happily lives, things may turn for the worst. Sometimes she doesn't even remember that Larry is gone, but each time she does remember, it is clearly a heart break. Can we just try and keep her in the "happy bubble" because I really think that even the trip, whether we drive or fly her, is going to be a difficult task in itself. I feel so good about her right now, but I also feel that she is very fragile...
ReplyDeleteLove y'all,
C
You know what C, now that I think about it, you'r right. Especially with the Texas family coming for Rod's wedding. I think that's what she wanted more than to vist Larry's ashes or grave site. She wants what is left of him.....his family!!!! They have graciously made us feel the same way. They want what is left of him....US!
ReplyDeleteLOVE YOU ALL DEARLY,
ROSIE