Wednesday, April 7, 2021
Jon was the oldest of us three kids, five years my senior, with my sister Dana caught in the middle. I learned to appreciate rock & roll from him. He taught us how to play chess, poker, booray, Risk, and Stratego – and how to get used to losing! When Monopoly arrived one Christmas, we all learned together; Jon’s strategy was to capture the railroads, utilities and of course Boardwalk and Park Place – hotels and all. Needless to say, he won most of these battles of wits as well. Then he brought home black jack, and I finally found something where I could best him most of the time. (Counting cards is relatively easy when you only own one deck.)
As we grew older, and started out on our respective careers, getting together became a lot harder. Jon was an electrical engineer in Fort Worth, and my sister and I were graduate students at LSU in Baton Rouge. Dana and I saved up for a trip to visit, and Jon offered to host the rotating poker game at his house out of turn just for us to join in. Long known for being a stingy bachelor, his usual food offering for hosting was sloppy joes. As all his Motorola poker buddies came filing in for the evening, they commented on how they had been so looking forward to have us visit, and wanted to know what wonderful Louisiana cooking we had whipped up in the kitchen for the evening. Dana and I just looked at each other in disbelief – and had to announce that while we had done the cooking, Jon had financed it. There was a brief silence . . . followed by moans and complaints. The main menu item was . . . sloppy joes! We still had one of the best poker parties ever, and it was probably the last time all three of us had a chance to revisit the earlier “gaming sessions” from our youth.
Jon, you were a unique personality, not to be repeated on this Earth. May you rest peacefully.
Libby
