Rodney,
   It's been so very many years.  I don't know how or where to start.  I don't subscribe to any newspapers, so I was totally unaware.
   After your dad retired and moved away, we lost touch.  I did'nt know that you had lost your mom, and I'm only just now finding out about your dad.  I'm so very sorry for your loss!  
   Some years after you and I were no longer running buddies, I ended up working at the plant together with your dad.  Although I spent quite a bit of time in and out of your house when we were kids, I never really got to know your dad until we worked together... What a HOOT!  Even in the midst of troublesome, confusing, and stressful electrical problems; he was hilarious!     He would say the funniest things and perform almost miraculous electrical fixes that no one else could figure out.  
   Many times, in the middle of the night, we would try everything that we could think of to fix a problem without having to call him and wake him up.  After we would give up, we'd call him and he'd show up without letting us know he was there.  He'd go to the source of the problem, fix it, and then come to our location, press a button which would magically start the broken machinery - and then look at us and say, "What'd you call me for?! There's nothing wrong with this [blankety-blank] thing", and then, acting like he was mad; go stomping off in a fake huff!
   One time I accidentally shut one-third of the plant down (literally).  After he came to the rescue and fixed it, I apologized to him and he said, "Don't worry about it.  I told them when they wired it this way that this was going to happen, but they would'nt listen to me!  Nope buddy, don't you even think a thing about it"!
   Man we missed him when he retired!
   One Christmas I took him some homemade candy, and then EVERY Christmas after that he'd come ask me, "Where's my Christmas candy"?
  Please accept my tardy condolences.  Both of your parents were special and I'll always remember both of them very fondly.
   
Your "old" friend,

Funeral Service

Chapel Hill Funeral Home & Memorial Gardens

Gerald Madden

immediate need

Death has occurred or is near

plan ahead

Pre-plan a funeral or cremation

Plan a Funeral or Cremation Default Desktop

Find Obituaries and Services

Send Flowers

sympathy and etiquette

grief library

celebrations of life

What to Say When Someone Dies

Show Your Support

Sympathy and Grief

obituary

services

memories

Obit Detail

In the care of

share to facebook

share by email

share link

Share Obituary

ideas and resources

Sympathy and Grief Mobile

OBITUARY

Gerald Leroy Madden

18 December, 1923 – 14 February, 2016

Chapel Hill Funeral Home & Memorial Gardens

Show your support

Add a Memory

Share Obituary

Get Reminders

Services