My girls and their mom's family needs prayer

[cfvickers]

I guess I do too. I have to break to my girls this morning that they lost their poppy this morning. He was very close to all of his grandkids and this is probably going to be rough. He has been going down for about 6-8 weeks now but he was a great man and it doesn't make things much easier. Especially for 4 and 5 year old little girls who never understood the gravity of his situation. So please lift them up this morning along with their mother and the rest of the family. His name was Bobby Riggs.

He loved trout fishing and pretty much introduced the idea of "Bass fishing" for trout on the Little Red. I used to laugh when he would tell me about the looks he would get when he got in the boat with a heavy weight rod and a 4-6 inch bass plug with 25-30 lbs test line. They stopped laughing when he would haul in the biggest brown trout they had ever seen! Anyway. Just thought I would share a small bit about him. Please remember them this morning.

[dougedwards]

Prayers to the Creator and Sustainer of the Universe for you and your young little girls. Thanks for sharing some tid bits of his life with us. He will never pass away from your memory.

Doug

[airborneike]

Rest in peace Bobby, go with God.

prayers are for your family.

Mike

[cfvickers]

Thank you. It has been a rough day but we made it through it. One of them is at peace with it, the older of the two is pretty much refusing to deal with it. Subject comes up she either changes it or leaves the room. I very much appreciate the prayers, I know God heard them.

[Deleted]

Prayers sent for you all ...take care and God Bless....
Greenhorn

[cfvickers]

Thanks to you as well Greenhorn. The funeral was yesterday and it was a rough one. All of his kids were terribly upset, even though they had tried to prepare themselves. Nothing could make losing a very loving parent easy. But there was no fighting amongst themselves or the such, and they all pulled together to get through it. The service was beautiful and a very fitting tribute to him. The preacher said everything right and reminded them that they should be thankful to have had such a wonderful man in their lives. I guess you can tell that though I divorced their daughter I kept her family as I would my own, and after all of the bad stuff we went through I now look at her more like a sister than an ex. This can only be attributed to God's Grace and my girls are better off for it.
On a lighter note I saw a guy who I had never before seen wearing a shirt or proper shoes (he preferrs flip flops and an unbuttoned flannel if it is cold flip flops and cut off jean shorts if not) wearing a clean pressed shirt and slacks with a decent pair of shoes on his feet (I doubt any socks, LOL). He wouldn't do that for many people, but he saw Mr. Bobby as worthy of it. I am sure it is obvious that I miss him already but I think back and I just smile at how blessed I was to get to know him. The man was well known on the little red river and a lot of people who knew him, the preacher included, did not know he trout fished. But in reality he was pretty much a legend. He was that guy that didn't talk much, never bragged, but who, like I said before, used a zebco 808 and a heavy rod with 25lbs+ test line and bass plugs to catch big trout. At the time when he started doing this he had never trout fished much and never had a full appreciation of the scale of what he was doing. He has probably caught more trout over 24 inches than anyone I have ever met. Never a record but his numbers of them would dwarf many of the best known out there. He started out armed with the knowledge that trout were aggressive predators when they got big enough that scuds and eggs would not sustain them, and that they are very territorial and would fight anything that got in there space. A lot of fly fisherman would not agree with his tactic because it used a treble hook, but he seldom kept a trout he had caught and didn't take too many pictures with them. He would carefully unhook them and turn them loose immediately. He was part of the group "Friends of the Little Red" Some may know that this is the same group that, under the cover of night, illegally introduced brown trout to the little red. All browns in the river are naturally hatched in the river and none are stocked. I don't believe he had a part in that. Now his way is accepted as normal. He was an interesting man who was willing to share his stories if you asked him too, but never brought them up himself. He was married to the same woman for 55 years until his death, and carried a miniature copy of his marriage license in his wallet, which he proudly displayed any time the subject of marriage came up. He was one of the finest men I have known, and I guess that is why I typed all this out. Rest In Peace Mr. Bobby.

[ET]

Cfvickers

First I want to offer my condolences to your families’ loss.
I also came to know of the individual who recently passed away by the comments you made about him. He was a unique individual for sure.
I’m sorry to hear that one of your daughters is having a difficult time with this. The grieving process is not always the same for everyone and she will require more help/attention to get over this time of grieving.

My hope and prayer is that fond memories will soon replace the hurt of grieving for the continuation of living a healthy life.


Ed

[cfvickers]

Thank you Ed. For my own part I saw his suffering as he neared his end, and was in many ways more relieved at his passing than saddened. I hate to see anyone suffer, least of all a person whom I loved and respected. And though I shed a few tears when the news came, I was almost immediately overcome with appreciation that the Lord allowed me to get to know him, and I can't help but smile any time I think about him. I appreciate your kind words, and I relayed all of them to my ex-wife (his grand-daughter/legally adopted daughter) and she asked that I send her appreciation as well. For me, a sincere prayer offered by people who I may see as strangers if I met them on the street carries a lot of weight, and because I believe most on this board who would offer a prayer will follow through, it speaks volumes for the people here as individuals. Thank You all.