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“Gene Reed died at his home, surrounded by his
loving family. He died after a long battle with cancer.”
That is what the obituary in the newspaper
said. It went on to identify his family members and give a brief
description of his employment history, church involvement, community
activities and his service to his country.
Gene served in the Navy during World War II
and was a hard-working steelworker who worked for the same company his
entire working career. He was a member of the city council and was a
sexton in his church. Obituaries never do justice to the deceased. It
is impossible to do so in the limited space allowed an obituary notice.
Gene loved his family, bus trips, antique auctions, Amtrak trips and
old-time music. God, family, church, country and home were of the most
importance to Gene. After that came clocks--antique clocks, to be
precise.
Gene was a member of the National Association
of Watch and Clock Collectors as well as being a proud member of the Old
Timers’ Club.
Gene’s hobby was old clocks. Some might call
it an obsession. The Reeds’ home was filled with old clocks of every
style imaginable. Gene would buy and repair any antique clock that he
could. Gene especially enjoyed clocks that chimed. His home was filled
with chiming clocks. With so many clocks in a house, it was difficult
to keep them all set to the exact time. Some of the clocks were not set
to the correct time until Gene finished working on them. This allowed
the days at the Reeds’ home to be filled with the sounds of chiming
clocks. They chimed at odd times during both the day and night. It was
music to Gene’s ears. The scattered chiming was perhaps preferable to
them all chiming at the same time. Such synchronization would have been
deafening. Not a room in the house was free of chiming clocks. Gene’s
clocks were everywhere.
His family knew that Gene was not feeling well
when he was no longer able to work on his clocks.
Gene died while surrounded by his loving
family--his wife of 48 years and his 4 children, 2 daughters and 2
sons--as well as their spouses. Gene had been gravely ill for over 6
months and he was ready to meet his Maker. He was unable to do the
things he loved—which included working on his precious clocks.
Gene passed away at 7 o’clock.
The clock by his bedside, one of his
favorites, was set at 11 o’clock. It was the last clock that Gene had
been fooling with while his health still permitted such activities.
As Gene gave his last breath, the family
watched the clock’s hands move to 11 o’clock.
The family members all instinctively looked at
their wristwatches--their timepieces all read 7 o’clock. As they looked
at the watches, they listened to the old clock by Gene’s bed chime seven
times.
They thought that Gene had not had the time to
fix this particular clock. But then to their amazement, an hour later,
when the clock’s face showed 12, the clock struck 12 times.
The family knew without a doubt that Gene was
happily working on his clocks again.
©Al Batt 2001
71622 325 St.
Hartland, MN 56042
SnoEowl@aol.com
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