May 30, 1949-July 8, 2014

Wandall Jim Hughes.
To his friends, he was Jim. 
To his close family he was lovingly called Chubby.
 To his 2 children, he was Dad or Pops.
 His 6 grandchildren called him Pop-Pop.
And to the love of his life he was….more than just words.

He was a proud Pop-Pop. We would joke that when we were all gathered together was when he was most relaxed. Because every single time, he would fall asleep. 

I was his right hand man. He was my best friend. He often called on me to do things around the house that he couldn't.  We loved to go fishing together. We spent many nights on the boat catching fish and talking.  I was proud to have him as a father, he was proud of me.

My wife, Adrienne was like a daughter to him. He treated her like one, often teasing her. Saying she always took the longest to order when we went out to eat. He loved when she would bring over one of her homemade pies. 

I gave him 3 grandchildren:
Jayden Wandall Hughes- Age:10
Ava Renee Hughes- Age: 6
And
Wyatt Owen Wandall Hughes-Age: 9 months

My sister Amber was his baby girl. She was fortunate enough to share his cheesy sense of humor and they always joked around together. He loved her cooking and was always in awe of all the things she could do. From crafting and sewing to photography. He was so proud of her.
Amber is married to Matt Shoemaker. As the years passed, Matt and Jim became close. They would often sit in a quiet room and just talk. He knew Matt was good with computers and would call on him when he needed help with anything electronic.

Amber gave him 3 grandchildren:
Matthew Wandall Shoemaker-Age: 13
David Bowen Shoemaker-Age: 6

and the latest addition to our loving family,

Emma Jo Shoemaker-Age: 6 weeks

He loved his nephew Clay Wuensche like a son. He was very proud of all of Clay’s accomplishments.  He would joke with Clay’s wife Christin that she was not allowed to come to the house unless she made his favorite spinach/artichoke dip. He also loved their son Patrick like a grandchild and treated him as such. 

After we were grown and out of the house, he and my Mom loved to travel. Together they explored:
Cabo St. Lucas, Mexico
Caymen Islands
Virginia (Jamestown)
Washington, D.C.
Las Vegas
And many more.

He was an avid golfer. He went to the golf course every single day for years. He was very good and managed to get two two holes in one while they lived in Arizona.
He loved my Mom more than anything. They were married August 28, 1971. It would have been 44 years this year.

He was a hard working entreprenuer who had many jobs: 
He was millwright at Alcoa.
He owned his own bowling center, which was his dream.
He was a real estate agent.
And he retired with Chase Bank as an Inside Salesman. 

He had amazing charisma. He would meet someone and next thing you knew, they were talking like they had been best friends for years.

He will be missed by many.

And we will never be the same without him.

Table Talk: James Garner

My Mom and Dad told us about a time (before they had kids) when my mom and him were boarding a plane. They were going past first class to get to their seats when suddenly my mom stops and starts babbling uncontrollably. She had recognized James Garner sitting in his seat, reading a book. 

Mr. Garner looked up and seemed very startled at this woman babbling at him. It's safe to say my mom was star-struck. Unfortunately she got so nervous that she completely forgot his name!

Afterwards, when they were all seated and in the air they saw people approach Mr. Garner and ask for his autograph, which he graciously signed. 

My mom never asked for his autograph because she jokes: "He probably thought I was crazy!"

Lesson Learned

Another awesomely funny story brought to you by my dad. Before I tell it, I'll let you know how the telling of this story came about:

A couple of days ago I went into town to run some errands. On the way home I stopped at the gas station to refuel my car. It was windy so I grabbed my jacket and wallet as I was getting out of the car. I paid for my gas and started fueling. I put my wallet on the top of my car while I put my jacket on and told myself not to forgot it was up there. The fuel stopped pumping at 2 dollars in. I knew that I needed more gas than that so I went to adjust the pump. It was at that point that I completely forgot about my wallet. I drove on home completely oblivious that my wallet was still up there. I didn't even realize until I got home that it was gone. Luckily, just yesterday I got a call that my wallet had been found. 

So Matthew was talking to my dad on the phone the other day, telling him how I had lost my wallet. He then produced this story, which we all thought was pretty funny.

One Sunday morning he was leaving to go to church. He had to strap a toddler Amber into the car seat, so he put his bible on top of the car. He then drove off, heading to church. As he was driving down the freeway he looked at his rear view mirror to see paper flying all over the place. Come to find out his bible was still on top of his car, but the pages were coming out one at a time. 

He spread the gospel all over town that morning.

So now I don't feel too bad about my wallet fiasco. Apparently it's pretty common. A friend even told me she once left an entire cake on top of her car. 

But I will never, ever put my wallet on top of my car ever again. Lesson learned.

My Dad My Hero

Dear Dad, I really wanted to write this blog on the day of your birthday. But we were out of town at the time. Then when we got home we were greeted with company. I suppose I could have just written it while everyone was here, but I wanted to be able to sit and give this my full attention.

So here is your belated birthday post. Hope you like it.

Monday was Memorial Day, it was also my Dad's birthday. I thought about him all day that day. Hoping that his day was going well and wishing I could be there to give him a big squeeze and tell him to his face Happy Birthday.

My Dad has been an inspiration to me my whole life. He has made me strive to be a better person. I looked up to him when I was little and I still do to this day. He is the most caring, thoughtful person I know and I'm proud to say I know him well.

He is always concerned about his family and worries about us constantly.

He catches us when we fall and cheers us on when we take off running the race of life.

I remember being in Elementary school and taking part in a charity race. I've never been much of a runner and I tired out early in the race.

Just as I was getting ready to give up and walk off the track, I hear my Dad cheering. "Go Amber!! Come on! You can do it!!"

I started running again, unfortunately I tired out again and came in dead last. But he cheered me on the entire time.

He has always been one of my biggest fans. He pushes me to blog more and I find myself calling him up after I've finished a blog post. More likely than not he tells me he'll look at it as soon as we get off the phone.

He gets on to me if I haven't posted in a while because he tells me he checks it every morning. I like that he pesters me. I love that both of my parents enjoy my writing. If it's only them that get any enjoyment out of what I say then I'm ok with that.

My Dad has an amazingly cheesy sense of humor that cracks me up and inspires me to be just as cheesy. I love to sit and listen as he jokes and teases the grandkids with his extremely cheesy humor. They love it too.

He is a lover of Louis Lamour books, Home Alone Movies, and he is an all around amazing human being.

He is my Dad. I love you Daddy.

Nap Time

I was doing a little Spring Cleaning in my picture folders when I came across this picture. It instantly made me smile.

I think this may be the cutest picture of my Dad ever.

David, who is turning 3 next week, was just a couple of days old at the time of this picture.

If you look closely you can see David had his little arm propped up near his head, just like his Pop-Pop.

Happy Birthday Daddy-O!

Reasons Why I Love Pop-Pop:

By: Matthew W. Shoemaker

1. He likes to play golf, and so do I.

2. Because he's a good man.

3. He tickles me.

4. He used to have a really cool car. I liked to ride with the top down.

5. He's very silly!

6. He's very manley! (notice the eyebrow wiggle here, heehee!)

7. I like his smile.

8. He gives really good hugs.

And last but not least:

Because he's the greatest Pop-Pop EVER!

Happy Birthday Pop-Pop! I Love You!

Pop-Pop and Nana

David's 1st Birthday / Nana & Pop-Pop's Visit

David Bowen Shoemaker was born on May 11, 2008 at 7:35 am. He was my Mother's Day present. What a wonderful present.

We celebrated his birthday on Saturday May 9, 2009. His Nana and Pop-Pop flew in from Arizona. My dad hadn't seen him since he was 4 months old, my mom came to see us in March. So he had changed alot since the last time they saw him.

Here is David with his Pop-Pop. He loved that cake!

He happily snuggled with his Nana.

Mmm...juice!

He got ahold of Pop-Pop's cup.

Pop-Pop and the boys.

My dad...miss you.

David hangin out on our new porch swing.

David and Nana on the porch swing...miss you too mama.

he's such a happy baby...

such a silly boy...