A memorial to some who have passed through

In Sunday's obituary section there was a memorial to a friend of ours father. I started me thinking of all the parents of people we knew and we were friends with and some that we met through our children's involvement in sports. This gave me something to think about all day Sunday and kept me from ending the day as Mr. negative.
The first I will discuss is the most important one to me. It would be my late father-in-law John. I did not have a very good home life after my mother passed away when I was 10. My stepmother never connected with my sister or I and where clearly treated like we were baggage. When I started dating my wife I was 18 years old and had been booted out my father and stepmother's home. On one of our first dates we went up to her parent's cabin and I was surrounded by a loving and caring environment. I couldn't believe how well they got along. Her parents were there of course as well as her father's parents. I was treated like I was royalty. Anyone that was their daughter's friend was their friend also. I had many years and spent a fair amount of time that their father. His influence on me was better than I could ever imagine. He taught me so many things about home repair and was always there when I had something to work on. It's amazing how well you can connect to somebody by working with them. When he had me helping with the cabin for their house I felt I graduated because he trusted me with his own things. Occasionally I have a project that would require a specialized tool from his workshop. I would go down in the basement and do the job. After I was done I would just look around his workshop that all the cool things he had. I bought many tools after that. As he got older he developed heart problems and I would do things to take care of their properties and felt privileged to do so. There are many more things I can say about her father but to sum it up I would say is the most important person I have had in my life besides my wife. He passed a decade or so back and I have missed him more than any other person I can think of beside your mother. He is by far the most important man in my life.
To be continued&