Write To Remember

By Phil McQuillan

Growing up during the Great Depression, Philip had to contend with scarcity, hand-me-downs and a dearth of education options. His older brothers and sisters had all been "guided" into a convent or the priesthood. So how did Philip become a stalwart family man and neighborhood icon? Simply...he met Jean!

The first story in our collection covers almost forty years of Big Philip's colorful home life— his favorite hobbies, his foibles and the mini-obsessions that made him such a memorable character. Philip’s little recipes, his night job as a radio announcer, the board game "crimes" and his love for horse racing, golf and gardening all combine to paint the richly detailed portrait of a man we cannot help but grow to love. The stories/tributes that follow by Jane Franklin and Liza D Wolfe are equally entertaining, very personal glimpses into the life and times of their beloved parents.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Phil McQuillan
• Release date: Jun 3, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311757746

Phil McQuillan

Philip Jude McQuillan was born in 1954 in Michigan. He spent his early school years in Philadelphia, PA and Vineland, NJ. After a brief career in commercial shipping, he moved to Costa Rica and spent 20 years there raising a family, teaching English and Spanish in his free time. In 2001, he returned to the US with his second family, and eventually moved back to his hometown to spend time with his father in his waning years. A first-time author, Philip draws inspiration from his father Philip Louis McQuillan. He encourages everyone to write about someone they knew and loved. Having passed away, their stories are sacred memories. Please do not let them be forgotten. Whether you decide to author a book of your own, or choose to add a story to his book Grandfather's Uncle, your gain is the same— you will enrich your life and the lives of your family and friends.

Book preview

Write To Remember…

by Philip J McQuillan

Copyright 2014 Philip J. McQuillan

License Notes

This free e-book may be copied, distributed, reposted, reprinted and shared, provided it appears in its entirety without alteration and the reader is not charged to access it. Thank you for respecting the works of these authors. If you would like to add your story to this growing collection of Tributes, please contact me at [e-mail].

"I have only my loved ones to thank"

Write To Remember ~ Book I is the first book of a growing collection of Tributes/Memoirs. Please consider submitting your story for inclusion in this book-in-progress. Writing a tribute is an act of gratitude —a priceless gift to your children and to future generations. Today’s cherished loved ones deserve to be remembered for their merits! With your contribution to these pages, your favorite friends and relatives will live on forever in our readers’ minds as the very real and wonderful people they were. Thank you for remembering and honoring them.

About the Authors

Philip McQuillan

Jane Franklin

Liza D Wolfe

Mehreen Ahmed

Table of Contents

BOOK I~Chapter 1~Philip

Preface

Big Philip

Simple Sundays

A Garden Variety Philosopher

On Others

Mystery Meet

Afterword

BOOK I~Chapter 2~Eddie & Margie

Daddy

Natural Habitat

Neighborhood Excitement

Mama

Happiness

Downtown

You Just Never Know

BOOK I~Chapter 3~Rose

The Story of Rose

BOOK I ~ Chapter 4 ~ Reminiscences of Dad

BOOK I ~ Chapter 1 ~ Philip

Preface

Who among us can remember, much less write even a scrap about our grandfather's uncle? Instead, I write about someone that I can never forget—my father Philip. It is sad and shocking to think that in two short generations, no one alive will know anything about the life that Philip lived, exactly what befell my grandfather’s uncle.

I know that it would be a great personal tragedy if my father's memory were to pass into the nothingness of total anonymity just like my grandfather’s uncle. To me and to everyone that was lucky enough to know him in the flesh, his life cannot be summed up by name and date marks on a stone somewhere few people will ever go, and a couple hundred words in an obituary few people will ever read. I dedicate these pages to my dear father Philip, and to everyone that ever wanted to write in order to remember, then, publish in order to preserve a story about a departed loved one.

Big Philip

One day I realized that I was beginning to forget the many things that made Dad nearest and dearest to all of our hearts. He had a wide-ranging vocabulary and the exquisite sense of timing needed to deliver his choice words. This made him the unsung comedy king of our little world. His was a wry sort of humor that drew heavily from a vast collection of favorite words. He peppered his conversation with them generously. As is the case with many good comedians, the unexpectedness of his remarks and the asperity of his wit were what set him apart from the crowd. Now only the memories of those rollicking fits of laughter remain. Like the dream I had last night, the vivid clarity of which begins to fade almost immediately when I awake, I could easily lose these memories forever. Writing these lines has helped me recover some of them from the abyss.

The memories that come back most poignantly have him speaking the special words that he alone commanded. I have tried to render a small sampling of these words in story form. They are trigger points meant to bring back fond memories to those of us who knew him personally. For those of you just getting to know my father now, this will be a glimpse into a kind of Daddy's Dictionary that points, succinctly, to a life well worth celebrating. Any words in bold from this point on indicates they were some of the characteristic words and phrases that were among Philip’s favorites.

* * * * *

Philip Louis McQuillan was born into a large family in Philadelphia, PA on August 23, 1913. He died on November 18, 2011 in Bridgeton, NJ at the ripe old age of 98. He was a man of simple pleasures who loved reading, cooking and getting in a few rounds of golf or tennis. A swim in the ocean, a game of cards, classical music and great literature—these were a few of his favorite things. It always seemed that whatever he was doing, that was also his favorite thing. I have yet to meet anyone with so few dislikes, so few complaints and such a wonderful acceptance of life just as it is.

In family circles, he was often called Big Philip. Big Philip would spice up his conversation with quotes and references to Shakespeare, Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas, among others. He loved poetry, especially the poetry of Robert Frost. He read and re-read Shakespeare's sonnets and plays, and gradually the master’s works became fodder for his very own word cannon. Philip definitely had a way with words; he was a veritable storehouse of odd phrases and time-honored classic sayings. He was, nevertheless, a very down to earth, simple man who could laugh easily at any good joke. Most of the time he was the one making everyone else laugh. He had his own inimitable brand of understated humor. In fact, that was one of his favorite words. Inimitable: a wonderfully alliterative word that describes him completely. Truly, he was one of a kind!

Two other favorite words immediately come to mind: insipid and connoisseur. I can still see Dad mouthing some food or drink in response to a how-does-it-taste question, and with a mildly pained look on his face reply, "pretty insipid. Though obviously repulsed by the taste of whatever it was, he was also too kind and too cultured to blurt out that it tasted like crap. He would then chastise himself for being so critical (in his self-effacing way) saying, but then I'm no connoisseur, except that he would pronounce it conna-sewer" with lots of emphasis on the last syllable! You see, he would get you coming and going—with an opening line and a closer too! Sometimes I thought I knew which funny word or phrase was coming next. Then Dad would alter things a bit; just like an experienced pitcher throwing a change-up, he’d catch you off guard. He had that kind of an edge. That edge made him the one who would get others laughing—laughing until the tears were streaming down their face.

Dad had loads of pet phrases—one of them was comme ci comme ça. I was surprised to learn that comme ci comme ça came from the French—we all thought it was a Latin phrase! …or, maybe Italian, since we lived in a predominately Italian town. My sister Karin and I both knew what the phrase meant, but not its origin. Big Philip had many things he kept