Uncle Irving

HOBL's Uncle Irving was buried yesterday

down the bayou at the age of 82.

Uncle Irving was HOBL's grandfather, Jackin's brother.

I believe he may be the last in that generation of Lafont's

to die and another part of HOBL's small family has ended.

So let me say a few thing about Ol' Uncle Irving...

I won't pretend he was this wonderful, loving Uncle who read

you books and made you feel all fuzzy inside.

He was, however, the type of Uncle who made you laugh

and you were always prepared to be embarrassed by something

he was going to do or say.

One of HOBL and I's first dates was when he was home on leave

from the army and he brought me to Uncle Irving and Aunt Audrey's house.

This was the home where his family most often met at in the

old days for holidays.

Oh and was I in for a surprise but if you are from below the

Intracoastal you will recognize this uncle because I believe

we have all had at least one Uncle Irving in our family.

So I am 15 and I am going to this home full of relatives of HOBL's

that I have never met.

Uncle Irving greets us and after figuring out who I "really was"

a Collins girl who belonged to Freddie Collins,

the game was on.

"Well, you are pretty and all, but Roneeee, that is not the girl

you had with you last night was it? Because she is prettier

than that one"

"So You in love with my nephew? You going to get married and

have the love going?"

Well, remember I am only 15 and I am just a little bit "haunt"

as it was called back then.

He was a trip but from the very first meeting there was something

I liked about Uncle Irving.

Aunt Audrey, I wasn't prepared for Aunt Audrey...

I, in my family, knew nothing about wrestling, really didn't even

know it existed but this woman not only loved her wrestling

but instead of having framed pictures of her children on the mantle,

she had pictures of wrestlers autographed there.

HOBL is insistent that wrestlers came to their house all the

time and Audrey was loved by the wrestling world.

She knew everything about this sport and the people who

were involved in it. It was all she talked about.

She was a big, loud woman but always was well dressed and the hair

was always fixed. Different from Uncle Irving who smoked cigars

and didn't bathe as often as Aunt Audrey would like.

The one thing I did admire in Uncle Irving was that out of all

HOBL's relatives, Uncle Irving kept in touch with us until he

got sick and moved to Texas to be with his daughter, Lennie.

He would visit our home often while we were raising our family.

He was proud, so proud of HOBL after he sobered up.

the majority of the Lafont family probably were alcoholics

before there was a name or a program to help them.

Uncle Irving would help HOBL with anything he may have needed

knowing that he didn't have a daddy to watch over him,

he tried to do his best to assure HOBL had a man figure in his

life in case it was needed. The visits became more frequent after

HOBL's grandfather died. My babies, my babies did not like

Uncle Irving and even when I told baby boy about his death

baby boy jokingly typed to me,

"Uncle Irving was a bastard"

He meant this in a funny way but I know that as a youngster baby boy

was terrified of Uncle Irving.

When I was pregnant for baby girl, Uncle Irving visited one day

and told the 4 year old baby boy,

"When your sister is born I am going to come over here and take her and

kill her."

It is what was expected of old Cajun Uncles back in the day,

tormenting children was part of his responsibility.

He did not know how sensitive baby boy was and

baby boy ran in his room screaming.

Uncle Irving shocked by this child only said,

"What is wrong with him?"

Like what he had said was normal as daybreak.

Hahaha the story still makes me laugh even though at the time

I complained to HOBL that his Uncle was a crazy man hurting

baby boy like that.

After that day every time Uncle Irving pulled into the driveway

baby boy would scream,

"Uncle Irving is here, lock the door. Let's pretend we are not here,

hide Jesi, he's going to kill her!"

Oh the memories.....

Then after Aunt Audrey died that, by the way, devastated him

because in his way he loved this woman,

he never had a problem finding a girlfriend.

This was funny to us because we couldn't figure out how this happened.

He was a big man who had his own unique smell and it wasn't

a welcoming smell.

Yet his girlfriends were well-dressed very mature women.

He loved, dirty jokes and this always made his girlfriends

cringe when he began telling his jokes but there was never any

stopping Uncle Irving from saying what he was going to say.

You just braced yourself and hoped you were not the

brunt of his joking that day.

Now Uncle Irving is gone.

He is they type that will bring a smile to your face when you

bring up the memories. Even though he was

the unconventional uncle I know HOBL loved him and

the way he was.

RIP Uncle Irving, no baths needed in heaven.

;^)