Uncle Vincent

By TJ Seitz

A short story about the life of a quirky person who died

• Language: English
• Publisher: TJ Seitz
• Release date: Oct 26, 2011
• ISBN: 9781466089822

TJ Seitz

On the surface Mr. Seitz appears to be a quintessential middle aged male. TJ is married to his HS sweetheart and lives with his family in a suburban split level house located on the outskirts of Rochester, NY. Seitz has spend the majority of his professional career working as an information technology specialist in the fields of education, criminal justice/law enforcement and procurement. While working full time, TJ also attended college part time (and sometimes full time). To keep himself (relatively speaking) sane he majored and minored in non-technology subjects, earning a BA in English with a writing concentration from Saint John Fisher College and a MA in Social Policy from Empire State College. As an undergraduate student TJ attended writing classes taught by George Saunders and Judith Kitchen (though neither teacher would probably remember him). Distractions like kicking virtual wasp’s nests on BITNET Listservs (predecessors to social networking sites like Facebook), soliciting donations for a Panty Alter fund and hanging out with a heavily medicated professional drummer named Dirtbag interfered with TJ’s ability to write anything particularly noteworthy for either class. He also attended a workshop at the Omega Institute mentored by Marge Piercy and Ira Wood. In reality the stable full time jobs have been serving as functional fronts for TJ’s secret life as a writer. They provided him with money to pay his bills and experiential material to write about. The down side of working and going to college was that he did not have a lot of time to devote to writing and publishing. Adding a problematic first marriage, babies, a divorce, a few bouts with unemployment and colon cancer to the mix did not help much either. TJ is currently working on several writing projects/ideas and recently took a graduate writing class proctored by James Whorton. Mr. Seitz's essays and letters have been printed in both local and national publications. His poetry has been published both in the United States and England.

Book preview

Uncle Vincent

T.J. Seitz

Copyright 2011 by T.J. Seitz

Smashwords Edition

Obituary for Vincent H. Kreckle

Bainbridge native Vincent H. Kreckle died suddenly on Tuesday December 7th 1999 from cardio-pulmonary complications. He was on his annual winter retreat in Miami, Florida.

Vincent was born June 22th, 1931 in Bainbridge, New York. He was the first son of Swiss immigrants Inge and Peter Kreckle.

He graduated from Bainbridge High School in 1949 and earned an Associates Degree in Drafting from Broome County Technical College. Vincent then enlisted for 4 years in the Army as a soldier in the Korean War where he earned the rank of sergeant.

During the years after his military service Vincent moved away from Bainbridge but kept his connections there strong. After a long career working for Haloid, Singer and Amway, Vincent returned to Bainbridge for retirement.

Vincent was pre-deceased by his brother Armand. He is survived by his sister Ute(Springer), brother in law, Marshall, sister-in-law Patrice, nieces JoAnne, Mary and Christine, nephews Robert and Richard along with their spouses and children

A gave-side memorial service will be held Flag Day weekend at his family plot at the Bainbridge Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Bainbridge Historical Society.

Introduction

One of the most complex persons I've ever known died last night. He might have begged to differ with me about being so complex though. Simplicity can be complicated and Vincent Kreckle was living proof.

After writing Uncle Vincent's obituary for the Tri-Town Newspaper I got an uneasy feeling. What is considered proper or standard for remembering someone didn't do him justice. I didn't want to forget who he really was. Ordinary obituaries only state the basic facts about