"Son, Husband, Son-in-law, Father, & Friend"
I have been asked to write a few words about my Father Jackie Lee Babcock. Well, what can I say? He was a warm, wonderful guy, a great dad to me and my brother Ryerson, a loving husband and he loved the Pugliese-Barone families. I know that the families loved him back. There was always a good party going on at Uncle Jack's house. Dad was as "Irish" as an Irishman could get. But he fit in just fine with the Italians. He especially loved Bruno & Jennie. My father looked forward to when Bruno would come over to our house in Upper Nyack because he was guaranteed to hear some great story from Bruno. As we all know after Bruno retired, he often made his rounds to everyone's house to do some kind of odd job. And everyone always appreciated his efforts. My dad always had a nice cold beer waiting for Bruno when he was done with the job. I myself admit I wasn't at the time particularly happy about Bruno's landscaping work. Not that I didn't love to see him come over or that he didn't do a great job for us, but I hated coming home from a long day at school to a dozen or more piles of clippings that was to be picked up and disposed of by yours truly. I was instead looking forward to a cold glass of milk, some graham crackers and watching 'The Adventures of Superman' on the new color TV! Of course now I'm glad that I had the time with Pop and have a lot of great memories of him. This is also true with my grandmother Jennie.
I learned to play the drums in her care, playing her pots and pans with wooden spoons as drum sticks. I remember standing on Bruno and Jennie’s garage ready to fly off in my Superman costume! Until their next door neighbors called to tell Jennie, “Oh Jennie! Your grandson, he's gonna jump off the roof!!” My dad really liked to hear Bruno tell his stories of the old days, his time in the Army during World War I, and of course his Immigration to America. I clearly remember my father telling me and my brother, "listen to what old people have to say, you might learn something". He was right. He'd say "John go out and help your grandfather, someday you'll be glad you did". You know, he was right about that too. My dad, Bruno and Jennie and so many other family members are gone now, but they have all left us with so many memories; a rich heritage and the gift of having known them. All of us together will celebrate this in July 2006.
John Babcock
April 2006
