Thomas Allen Musgrave

Just a few weeks before he died, I remember my dad picking me and my younger brother, Ricky, up from school at Bazine. This was not common since my mom was a teacher there and it was a 30 minute ride. I was 10 and my brother was 8.  We got to ride in his Dodge truck and chat all the way home. When we got home, dad asked us to get something out of the dog kennel in the truck bed. He was an avid bird hunter and we had recently had to sell our family hunting dog, Shadow, as she had nipped at the neighbor kids. When we opened the kennel door, the cutest Pug puppy came walking out! What a suprise! Dad wanted us to have a kid friendly, family dog. We named him Pugsley.

 We were raised in a Catholic household and one day someone handed my brother a (non catholic) Holy Bible at the front door. My mom tossed it in the trash since it wasn’t our denomination and my daddy dug it out and handed it to my brother and said, “Son, if you read this you’ll know more than the both of us.” Made an impression. 

I remember when I was about 8 and my dad pulled me into the pantry. He put a huge shiny ring on my finger and said, "Go show your Mom whatcha got." I ran into the laundry room as dad looked on and, with much excitement, declared, "Look what Dad gave me!!". My mom gasped and snatched it off my finger and put it on her own. She threw her arms around Dad and thanked him. It was in that moment that I realized I had been a pawn in his anniversary surprise. Oh well! 

Stories of Dad: I remmember when we got Shadow, a German Shorthair pointer pup.  Dad was going to train it and his only goal was that it would listen better than uncle Bill's dogs (running joke in the family). So to train the new dog to point at pheasant, Dad had got permission from the local grain elevator to climb to the top and catch piegions as they roosted at night. Dad climbed up the rickety old ladder and I behind him with a gunny sack. Dad began to grab birds one at a time and hand them back to me to put in the gunny sack. I think we caught 12 or 15 that night. The next day we would twirl the birds around in a sack until they were dizzy and then tuck there head under there wing, and place them in a bush.  Dad said we would have about 15 min window before they woke up, so we got the dog out and began to teach her to hunt.  Things I learned from my Dad!

The morning of the last day I spent with Dad was a beautiful one for me.  That day, I was inducted into the Knights of Columbus as their newest member.   Dad had been a Knight for as long as I can remember.  He was so proud of me that day to have joined his service group.  Dad was a helper, always helping, always giving of his time.  When the induction ceremony was over and everyone had gone home, Dad and I were the last to leave, still cleaning up, putting a way tables and chairs, sweeping the floor, etc.   This was normal for Dad.  But before we cleared the last table and the last 2 chairs, Dad walked to the fridge and pulled out 2 beers.  He slid one over to me.  It was almost a coming of age experience for me.  To drink that beer with my father was a special moment.  It was by far not my first beer and Dad new that, but it was my first beer with him.   After that we went our seperate ways and Dad passed that afternoon.