As we pull into the parking lot for our long awaited hike, the sound of smooth jazz brightens up my soul. The back hatch of an older looking van is up and Colonel Jack is sitting in open sliding door letting lifes cares go with his trumpet. Call if fate, destiny, or call it whatever you call it but I knew from the second we pulled in i needed to meet Col. Jack. As soon as the bike was parked we went straightway over to Col. Jack, his first reply was " I sure hope I didn't bother you boys". We re-assured him he did no such thing and that we were blessed to be able to hear his wonderful trumpet playing. He told us we both had nice lips, I was a tacken a back for a moment until he said "You both would be great trumpet players." Mike told him he played in high school. Col. Jack told us about how he played in college and one night while he was playing for the class audience he caught eyes with a beautiful young lady. AS he walked up to her he discribed her in the most poetic way i have ever heard anything described in my life " Her eyes were dark, skin was pure, and her lips were full. When i told her she had nice lips she said so do you, me being the sophmore i was said would ya like to try, and we spent the rest of the night together" Col. Jack and his lovely wife were married the night before he was deployed for World War II. The temple was closed, but he ended up finding the temple president and he opened up the temple for them that night to have a special wedding there that night. Since then Col. Jack and his Wife have been married for 63 years. His wife suffers from alzheimers, and forgets who he is daily. He told us he has taken it upon himself to be by her side for as long as he lives. He was the most faithful loving man i have ever met. When he told us of his war stories that could haunt the dreams of just about any man he said if i had to go to war or deal with my wife being sick again i would go to war any day. He was getting choked up at this point and so was i, my heart broke for him. We ended up just having a little bit of small chat and he gave us his card and said "when you boys get married i want to play the trumpet at your wedding, i will do it for free... heck i'll pay you to let me" haha we chuckled and as much as we hated to leave and let the smooth jazz which was playing in the background the whole time fade we said our goodbyes, got a picture with Col. Jack, and headed up the mountain. I will never forget my good friend Col. Jack.
2 comments:
Hello, My name is Zeina and I am writing from England in regards to a project that I would like to produce. I am currently studying at the National Centre for Computer Animation, (Bournemouth University) and with your help I’d like to respectfully pay tribute to Mr. Tueller’s unique war experience. I read your post above and it mentions that you have his card. I'd like to obtain permission from Mr Tueller/his family for the short student film. Could probably share his contact information with me from the card he gave you?
Please can you get in touch at your earliest convenience. If you require any academic referrals from the programme director to verify the project for privacy reasons etc, please do not hesitate to ask.
Yours Faithfully
Zeina Masri
masrizeina@hotmail.com
JACK WAS A VERY GREAT MAN, AN INSPIRATION TO MANY. I FEEL PRIVILEGED TO HAVE GROWN UP WITH HIM AS A NEIGHBOR. TOUGH ACT TO FALLOW.
Post a Comment