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Do you need to buy a birthday, anniversary or holiday gift? Visit the Galleria!  Add your
comments on this week's "What
is the Deal?" column at Uncle Hiram's Bulletin Board.February 23, 2003 What is the deal with Uncles? By Jan A. Larson My dear Uncle Leo passed away this morning a few months short of his 89th birthday. Uncle Leo was born on a farm in rural Nebraska in 1914. He spent his 88th summer farming that same land. Uncle Leo lived his entire life, save for his time in the Army Air Corps in WWII, in our rural community. He never married. Sometimes the right one doesn’t come along in rural Nebraska. Not many will mourn for Uncle Leo. Mainly it will be my mother, brother, sister and I. Uncle Leo wasn’t well known by many of the folks that live in our hometown of 1200 people. Many of those that knew Uncle Leo are also gone. He wasn’t a schoolteacher, mayor, policeman or doctor. He wasn’t college educated and he didn’t travel much. He was a man who lived a simple life doing what those of the Greatest Generation do – he went to work each day to do his best to make a difference. Uncle Leo did make a difference. More than he ever knew. No, he didn’t raise a family, but he was there every day as my younger brother, sister and I grew up on our family farm, the children of Uncle Leo’s younger brother. Uncle Leo could do magic, at least it seemed like magic to us. He could take some wire, some scrap metal, an inner tube and make things. He taught me about the magic of electricity. Uncle Leo liked new gadgets and was the first in our family to get a Polaroid camera and a microwave oven. He still used that microwave, purchased in 1974. We used to tease Uncle Leo that he didn’t pass the food at holiday dinners but rather let the plates and bowls pile up at his end of the table while he dug in. You didn’t want to be downstream of Uncle Leo on those occasions or you might go hungry. You might not have noticed Uncle Leo had you met him on the street, a short man, plainly dressed, but he probably would have said hello to you and you would have felt better, if even for just a minute or two. Uncle Leo loved a good joke and he loved to tell them, sometimes over and over. He would laugh just as hard each time. Uncle Leo didn’t ask for much from life, like the others of his generation, but he was always ready to lend a helping hand to anyone in need. His generation is leaving us and that is sad. You may not have known my Uncle Leo, but we are all poorer for his passing. I only saw Uncle Leo cry one time, when my father passed away suddenly in 1985. He didn’t make any sound as the tears streamed down his face. I can only imagine what it must feel like to lose your little brother. Now I cry for my Uncle Leo. I loved him. I will miss him. -- Send feedback to the author. The "What is the Deal?" column will appears weekly on the Pie of Knowledge website. Guest submissions are welcome and encouraged. To submit an article to "What is the Deal?" click here. To subscribe to the "What is the Deal?" mailing list and receive early notification when a new column is available, click here. The Pie of Knowledge will never, ever divulge email addresses to any third party for any reason unless so ordered by a court of law. Contributions to the Pie of Knowledge are greatly appreciated. 
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