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 29^th. A celebration of John’s life will take place on Saturday, March 17^th 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."