Wednesday, August 1, 2012
It takes a village to raise a child. Mr. Coker was my mentor. I talk about him frequently and remember him every time I use that wrench I got from his garage sale (I have about two tons of snap-on tools and still like to use that one). My favorite story that I have repeated many times is when his picture was in the paper for catching that snapping turtle at the county lake. He said it broke his oar with its beak. It was the meanist creature I have ever seen alive, hissing, lunging, and snapping. Mr. Coker could fix anything. One time when his union was on strike he bought this old rusty 1940's Ford truck. It didn't run at first and he used his arc welder on the spark plugs to make it fire. It made a loud explosion when it did. He welded the forks of my sisters bike to mine so I could have a chopper. After I moved up here I attached a snow ski and the extended forks worked to make it a bicycle for snow. I still have those forks. I am deeply saddened even though I haven't seen him in 39 years. I will always remember him to be a great man.
