Rest In Peace Uncle Paul

I didn’t expect to be writing this today.

Uncle Paul was kind of my music uncle in a way.  He didn’t like the same bands as me, but he liked his oldies.  He loved the Beach Boys.  He even liked when Van Halen played cover tunes.  I remember making him a mix tape around 1989 – Best of Van Halen and David Lee Roth.  He let me play my music in his stereo, he let me watch Star Trek on his TV.  He was a good uncle.

My uncle and my dad were very close.  My dad raised him, from a very young age.  I grew up with all those memories.  “Your uncle lost my Meccano #2 set!” my dad would chide.  They shared a mutual love of cars – Chrysler products only.  My dad could tell you every car my uncle owned.  I couldn’t, except for his vintage ‘Cuda.  I think it was a ’72.  He bought it, sold it, bought it back, and restored it with original parts.  He was very fussy about his cars.  One of the best summers of my life involved two days of finishing a large garage in his back yard and wiring it for power.

I liked buying him car model kits every Christmas.  He tended to keep them sealed for a “rainy day”.  He had a stockpile of sealed models, and several dozen built.  They were immaculately displayed in a special custom shelving unit.  I remember drawing his picture, and pasting it onto the driver’s seat of a model car, on the box art, because I knew he might not open it for years.  He loved watching us open our Christmas presents, but hated the year that they stayed over in the rec room where our Atari 2600 was hooked up.  We wanted to play Atari so bad that Christmas morning, and we kept waking him up!

Uncle Paul had a cottage near ours.  You could see it from our backyard and get there in a few steps through the woods.  He loved our dogs and always had dog treats for them.  Whenever he went back there to get another beer, they’d yip and yipe and follow him hastily to get their treats.  We had many summers together at that cottage before he sold it.  Many shared meals, many chats around the barbecue.  When we were really young he’d come down to the beach with us.  I remember growing up, he’d always have fried eggs for breakfast at the cottage.  But he hated fried eggs so he covered them with pepper until they were black.  He loved spicy food.  Funny the things you remember.

Juice Newton.  I couldn’t tell you the first thing about her, except my uncle had one of her tapes.  That’s the only reason I know the name Juice Newton.

He loved comedy.  Steve Urkel – remember Family Matters?  That was one of his favourite shows for a long time.

I remember installing wooded tiling in the bedroom at the cottage.  He “supervised”.  We have a photo of him supervising.  From the bed!  But he sure pitched in when I moved into my first condo.  We had the place painted in a day!  I returned the favour when he moved into his new place.  We had a blast, working together.  Building wooden decks at the cottage.  How many did we build together?  Four?  Five?  His was the most complicated, and most fun.  It had three levels, and wound its way in front of a little stone wall.  I cut all the wood custom fit to the stones.  We were so proud of our work.

As the memories flood back as they do, I think I will write more stories about my uncle.  He hadn’t been well in a long time, and fortunately my only memories of him are when he was himself.  You don’t want to say you have a “favourite uncle” but he was a special one.  My sister and I always fought over who got to sit next to him at the dining room table, because he was fun and always clowning around.  Just like you want an uncle to be.

I’ll miss you Uncle Paul.  A lot.  Here’s some Beach Boys for you.

23 comments

  6. Sorry to hear that Mike.

    Your dad and uncle Mike are Mopar boys. I bet they went to Moparfest every year. My brother’s and I would sit out front of Moparfest and tell the guys leaving to light ’em up. I would be curious to know more about his cars. I’m a car guy too.

    Too bad I never met him. He sounds like a guy I would have liked.

    I have some Juice Newton here somewhere. Maybe I’ll put some on, and twist a wrench in honour of your uncle Paul.

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    1. New Hamburg — I went once with them and had so much fun. It was a ’72 HEMI Cuda he owned. I forgot that detail.

      Everybody loved Uncle Paul. There will be a lot of people at his funeral.

      Play that Juice, my man. I’ve taken the day off work and I’m writing stories about him with my coffee in hand.

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      1. Hemi ‘Cudas are as collectible as it gets. If it was original (it would have to have been a ’70 or ’71 as they dropped the Hemi after ’71 due to rising insurance rates and gas prices) it would be worth hundreds of thousands now. Maybe it was a ’72 with a Hemi dropped in. I’m curious about that car. Would love to read more about it. Maybe your family has pictures.

        Moparfest was in Heidelberg in the early days. That was when we used to sit out front. New Hamburg is great too, but as we age, we long for those nostalgia days. My favourite event there was when they would drain the oil and coolant out of an engine, start it up and take bets on when it would blow up.

        Light ’em up Paul.

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        1. I’ll have to ask my dad. To my knowledge my uncle still owned that car to his death. I know for sure it was a Hemi. It had a black hood scoop with HEMI on it, and it was a bragging point for him. I will write about the Cuda once I have the photos and information. It was his pride.

          I love what you just said. My uncle always told me about the engine blow up event. I never saw it myself, only heard it from him. Wow. I’m gonna go reheat my coffee. Emotional morning here Bop!

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  7. If you or your dad want to read a great Hemi ‘Cuda story read about the Black Ghost. The owner was a detroit cop who would go around at night street racing his Black Hemi ‘Cuda. Really great write up.

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    1. I bet my uncle knew that story. Sounds like something he’d know everything about :)

      He built a garage in the back yard just for that car. I’ll tell you, there was great anxiety when we installed the overhead light in that garage, car already parked inside. He had to get special permission from the city of Stratford. The garage backed up onto another road, and he had an opening fence and ramps to get the car out. There were rules about how often he could open the fence up, but he only took the car out a few times a year. Mostly he polished it and admired it.

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  8. Tell your dad to keep that car in the family. Did Paul have any kids to give it to?

    If it must be sold ask to drive it once before it goes. Not everyone gets to drive a Hemi ‘Cuda. Just remember to bring you wallet. 426 cubic inches (7 litres) of engine with 2 giant 4 barrel carbs get real thirsty for gas.

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