Who was PapaBear? Well for starters he was my father and secondly, he was special to a lot of people. I knew my dad was liked, but I had no idea how much until his death. Sadly, someone has to die before we all see how important they are. I have seen a lot of deaths in my life and have been to a lot of funerals, the number of people that show up at a funeral says a lot about the person. I saw more people at my dad's funeral than at any other funeral I have ever been to. PapaBear was born Oct. 3 1951 right here in Columbus Ga. he was a father to five kids but only four were his. His son Chris was adopted, but he has always felt like a blood brother to me. His first child was Mindy, from his first marriage and then I came along from his second marriage. Then he found his last wife and she had already had Chris then she had two more kids Jason and Angela.
PapaBear was a cab driver for many years and he loved what he did, he was good at it too. Sadly it's also what killed him, if he was not a cab driver he would have never picked up the fare that robbed and shot him.
All the guys that were involved in his death are now in prison.
Sadly enough my dad and I were not on talking terms at the time of his death, so I can't really tell you what his life was like the last five years of his life. I can only tell you what he was like from what I can remember from the past. My dad had many layers. A lot of people may not agree with me on this but that's ok, he was a good man and a good father at times. He was not a perfect person by no means, and it's not my intention to write this blog degrading my father, that's not what I'm doing. I am speaking of what I've seen and been through at the hands of my father.
Let me tell you of a time when my father saved my life, I was eight years old and we were driving down the road and we were in his old rusted-up Chevy Nova. I got in the old Nova and shut the door, but for those of you that don't know these old-timey cars had big heavy doors on them, and guess what, yep that's right I being eight years old and weak, I didn't close the door very well and my dad took a hard left hand turn and out the car, I went but then out of nowhere he somehow was able the grab ahold of my shorts I was wearing, and pulled me inside the car. I have a lot of good stories I could tell you about PapaBear and there are also some bad ones. I refuse to tell you any bad stories about my father because I feel it would be wrong on my part. Whatever bad stuff he has ever done to me or anybody else, it's all over now, he has paid his dues. No matter what I type or write or say about him, nothing's gonna bring him back. Plus why talk bad about him now when he is not here to defend himself. That's something he taught me never kick a man when he is down.
Somebody here recently asked me how my dad got the name PapaBear? I told them he gave it to himself and I said that I was not completely sure about this but I think he came up with it for his kids, we were the baby cubs and he was the PapaBear. That's what I think he was going with it. And after a while it just kinda stuck and for many years he was known as Papabear, a trusty cab driver and a good father.
I may or may not continue this blog. I hope you enjoyed what I've written and if you have any questions about PapaBear or any comments please leave them in the comment section below and I'll get back to you soon. Thanks
JLH
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