Where you spent 48 years of your life!! Williamson-Dickies MFG.

If you know me, you know that I am quite the talker. The complete opposite of my grandpa (unless he was drinking) but I like to think that he enjoyed picking me up from grade school just to hear me spill all of my mom’s beans. I got into some trouble with my her for it, eventually. We all know what that’s like… and I probably didn’t share too much after that! 

Needless to say. He was always there, never late. He even showed up for me when I was sick and mom couldn’t get off work to pick me up. All the way up until I was a bratty teenager in high school. In high school he would pick me up bright and early and he’d share the same exact story every single day and I’d just sit there in that old truck really just wondering if he knew that he had told me that just yesterday… or if he was gonna roll that window down a little more. 

I really wish I remembered that story. 

That’s also when he would make fun of people with road rage. “If they were in such a hurry they should have left yesterday.” That one will stick with me forever. 

He might have sent me to school smelling like a hand rolled cigarette, but again we were never late. 

He was there for my first car accident, there for all of the big things, there for each and every one of us when we needed him, and there for that bud light in mom’s garage. 

As I stand here today, infront of all of you. All the people he loved and was there for without question. I wouldn’t mind smelling like a hand rolled cigarette right about now. Fly high grandpa.  Love, Snow White.

Actually I do, my Grandpa and Grandma gave me my first job back when I was 14, he’d set up a table for me on the weekends at the flea markets around Fort Worth and I’m going to age myself here, but I’d sell VHS tapes from the old movie store they owned, before Netflix and Hulu you had to own a movie you wanted to watch. I’ll never forget $6 a VHS or 4 for $20. It was my first sales job, 23 years later I’m still in sales thankfully making more than a dollar a VHS (laughs)
For a regular 14 year old it may have been about the money, but for me, it was spending early mornings with Super Phil, he’d buy the best breakfast tacos and leave me with his cell phone (again aging myself this was before kids had cell phones) and he’d say “Mijo call me if you need anything.” 
Mom, Tio, and Jaime I know how comforting those words must have been your entire lives.
 
To end here, the biggest lesson Grandpa taught me, his children live every day, family comes first. Through my strong Christian faith I know Grandpa’s in Heaven right now with our lord and savior, probably measuring something 12 times and getting the place ready for when we join him in eternal life.

The other day I told my mom he was the blueprint for what I knew a man to be, the backbone of our family, someone that would show up at the drop of a hat for his kin. As an adult it was to tow me off of 183 to a tire shop, as a kid it was when I couldn’t scratch the baseball lineup. Now I don’t know this to story to be 100% true but I’ve known this family for 37 years now, so looking back this is what I think went down, my mom and my little league coach probably had an argument about my lack of playing time and she went and told coach’s dad. I love you Tio!  (Smile) Grandpa always the peacemaker between Tio and Mom picked me up from our house and took me to Academy bought a bat and some balls and worked with me in his backyard for hours. That’s what he did for all of us, that was the standard he set, he’d attack a problem with calm and precision. I know you all have heard the term measure twice cut once, well Grandpa lived to measure 12 times cut once. I don’t know how you did all those jobs and projects with him Tio and Jesse. (Laughs)

Grandma Peggy, I’ll start with the best advice Grandpa gave me in my life, one night wayy before I was married we were out talking in Mom’s garage, and I was going through some stuff at the time, Grandpa said “mijo, behind every great man is a greater woman” So a couple of years later When I met Gloria, it was paramount for what I knew a wife should be, and it holds true every day in our household, just as it did for my grandpa. Thank you Grandma for being his greater woman for all these years.
My first memories of Grandpa were after my dad went away, he’d show up when Mom and us would get really jammed up, he was like a hero in a ‘68 Camero, he was the biggest and coolest man I’d ever seen. He had an Aura about him, the way he walked, the way he talked and the way that beautiful mind worked.

Our Dad
He was the Philosopher of our family as my Aunt Rachel (his last living sibling) said to me the other day and it fit perfectly.

He worked hard and provided for our family his whole adult life. Even after retiring from Dickies at 48 years, he continued working at BJs and even after that Towing for our family business. He wanted to leave a legacy and he accomplished it. 

He was married to my Mom for 10 years, they divorced when I was about 5 years old. I don’t remember much from them being married just that it was not ideal. He was single for a long time until he married our bonus Mom Peggy in 1989. 

This man was a champ on the pool table, smooth talking, always with a lending ear and positive words. He could be a mean SOB too don’t get me wrong but he did try his best to give guidance whenever it was needed. Poor Russell will miss his scoldings most Z sure!! All jokes aside, he always came when anyone called him. 

My favorite memory is when I was single and I had my purse stolen by some bad choices I made, he came to scold me and tell me I should of been home and why was I out. I then lashed out with who are you to tell me that I’m with my kids 24/7 and he was livid because I never talked back to him ever. He left angry at me but the next morning he came to my apartment bright and early with coffee and donuts to apologize because he understood me and promised to always be there for me no matter the situation with no judgement and believe me there were many times to come still. But that moment made our relationship stronger. 

This last 16 months he trusted me with his care and I will cherish that forever. We giggled, we cried, we just grew so close and I’ll miss him dearly. I’ll always wish I could have done more and had more time but i am at peace knowing he fought so hard and wanted to do whatever it took to be with us longer. So when you have your next drink raise it to my Dad as he wished for that one more beer!!

Fly high Daddy!! We are okay!! We lov

Wards can’t describe how sorry I am at this loss.  You and your family are in our prayers. 
Love y’all. We are here for you.

Daddy your legacy will live on forever, you started with Two children, added two bonus children and ended up with an abundance of grand children and great grand children. I’ll miss all of you, until we meet again. I love you  “a bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck “ for Eternity.

Your beloved daughter
Melissa Lopez

OBITUARY

Feliberto "Phil" Lopez

June 16, 1944 – August 3, 2024

Laurel Land Funeral Home & Memorial Park

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