Sunday, March 4, 2012

Day 64: Wrote An Obituary About Father-In-Law

The past couple of days, we have been making a list of things that we need to get done for my father-in-law's memorial service and general things to do to get the house in order. I can tell the amount of stress that it has put on my wife and my mother-in-law, and I want to try to do as much as I can for them. One of the things they seemed to be struggling with was getting through writing the obituary for the newspaper. Putting down life information and memories to paper seemed to be saddening them, and I could see that. In an effort to try to alleviate some of their stress and sadness, for today's random act of kindness, I wrote an obituary for them to send to the newspaper. I am not the greatest writer but I hope my words will show at least part of the tremendous impact that John had on everyone around him.

"John I. Bascom, 60, died in Missoula, Montana on February 29th. A celebration of John’s life will take place on Saturday, March 17th at David’s Restaurant at Santa Clara Municipal Golf Course (5151 Stars and Stripes Drive, Santa Clara, CA).


John was born to Jack & Virginia Bascom on October 26, 1951 in St. Louis, Missouri. As a young boy, John and his family moved to Orinda, California where he would later meet the love of his life, Kimberly Morse, in 1974 after a date arranged by the parents of both. After moving to San Jose and marrying Kim, John started the company that would bear his name for the next 30+ years, Bascom Trim and Upholstery. The hard work and determination that John was known for allowed BTU to thrive into the business that is today. Building a thriving company from the ground up was something that John took a ton of pride in. However, it didn’t match the pride that he had from raising he and Kim’s three children: Lindsey, Ryan and Perry. In 2006, John retired with Kim to Corvallis, Montana. The term “retired” should be used loosely as John continued to work remotely for BTU while also successfully launching another business that developed eco-friendly seat covers (Reusable Product Solutions). In September of 2011, his daughter Lindsey gave birth to John and Kim’s first grandchild, Isla Quinn. The joy that he got from seeing and spending time with Isla was unparalleled.


Friends and family will remember John, not just for his work ethic, but also as someone with a tremendous sense of humor, a love of tennis and golf, and an insatiable taste for Chinese food. To call John Bascom an animal lover would be an incredible understatement. He loved his animals and they were his babies almost as much as his own children.


Although he has passed on, John will live on in everyone that he touched in his 60 with us."

15 comments:

  1. Ryan that is beautiful and moved me to tears. Please give them all our best

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  2. Beautifully written. From one who has unfortunately written and recited a few eulogies, I know how hard to encapsulate someones's life in a few paragraphs. That was lovely.

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  3. What a wonderful gift to give your loved ones, to caption all the wonderful things about the one that has past.

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  4. Beautiful gift for your wife and family during a difficult time. Your kindness is inspiring, I love reading your posts.

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  5. Love your posts, a lovely thing to do.

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  6. very pretty and very well written

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  7. Your words were just beautiful and touching. I am thinking of you and your family. I absolutely adore your blog! Megan

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  8. That was wonderful. I'm glad that I was able to read this at the start of my day.

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  9. Aside from your wonderful contributions to us all I just found one more thing I like.....my daughter's name is Quinn...I don't see it often, as a first or middle name. Nice!!

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  10. That was a lovely idea, and a well-written obituary.

    DeeDee
    www.KidNeedsAKidney.blogspot.com

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  11. I think that not only did you write a fantastic obituary but the very act was very noble. So glad that you didn't miss a day but do know how hard that can be - well done sir.

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  12. Love your posts. That was a sweet, lovely idea. I hope it helps you and your family cope with the loss as much as it honors your father-in-law.

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  13. I knew that I wanted some sort of collection or set of gifts to, Send gifts to Pakistan.

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  14. I'm on my own little Random Acts of Kindness Journey and found your page in a search. I've been scrolling through for a while now and had to stop and comment here. I'm sorry for your families loss. I lost my FIL right before my second child was born. Will always miss him. He too passed too young, at 56 yrs old. One thing I did for my kids was create a book about my father in law, so they can see pictures and read a lil about who he was. I thought I'd mention this to you as you have a little girl who will not get to really know her grandpa. Right now, you can get a free 8x8 photo book through shutterfly... http://www.babycenter.com/shutterfly?sfsrc=cmty-web

    Good luck the rest of the year!

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