Wednesday, May 31, 2017
UNCLE TONY MARTIN MYERS
When I heard of the sudden loss of my Uncle Tony on May 30th, I immediately started having a flood of memories. It would be impossible to capture in words what my Uncle Tony means to me but here are a few brief thoughts that came to mind.
Uncle Tony treated me more like a son than a nephew. Nearly every Friday night when I was in junior and high school, Uncle Tony would make the drive from Greensboro to Summerfield to pick me up so I could spend the weekends with him, Aunt Beverly and my Cousin Ron and Cousin Krystal. I would also spend large amounts of Spring, Winter and Summer breaks with Uncle Tony and Aunt Bee.
We used to watch that awful Captain America show in the 70's and the Knight Rider in the 80's. Tony took care of me when I got such a horrible stomach flu and I still cannot eat Funyuns to this day!
Tony would take me and Ron fishing nearly every weekend and he encouraged me in my writing and drawing. We watched wrestling together every Saturday night and he would get mad at me when I pulled for Ric Flair because Flair would cheat. We went to see several matches live at the Greensboro Coliseum. I will never forget my Uncle Tony laughing and yelling down at the ring from our nosebleed seats as we watched Roddy Piper, Rick Flair, Greg Valentine and all the greats go at it.
Uncle Tony taught me not to be ashamed to dance although he never liked my singing voice. He used to get on stage during beach concerts with Alabama and ZZ Top before those groups were well-known and dance and sing. He once broke an ankle dancing in platform shoes back in the 1970's. I learned to appreciate popular country music like Kenny Rogers thanks to Tony and he even took me to the local radio station where I met the DJ. This was a great inspiration toward my later becoming a broadcaster in the U.S. Air Force.
Uncle Tony loved the beach and music. He could not get enough of the Ray Parker tune from the movie Ghostbusters. He bought the 45 record and also Hall 'n' Oats' song "Man-eater." He drove us crazy with both those records which he would play for hours and dance and sing while Ron-Ron and I ran up the high-score on the Atari Pac Man.
We saw Ghostbusters together at the movies and the Karate Kid. I think Tony cheered more for Daniel-san than any of us teens in the audience.
Uncle Tony taught me the importance of standing up with your family, even if you got your butt kicked by a bully. I also learned a lot by the example of how much love he showed my dear Aunt Beverly and how much respect he showed to my Grandpa Noah Lewis and Grandma Joyce Lewis.
As a teenager, Uncle Tony taught me it was no big deal to flirt with girls and he dropped me and Cousin Ron off for our first double-date meet-up with some young ladies at the Carolina Circle Mall. One night, while everyone was sleeping, Uncle Tony took me to the curb market for fresh fried chicken. We stayed up past midnight and ate 15 pieces of chicken between us!
Uncle Tony made a great morning breakfast, scrambling dozens of fluffy eggs and delicious fried liver pudding and crispy bacon. And he always kept a cheerful disposition; making jokes, trying to get "chin" on me and Cousin Ron and he made up strange words like, "hun-gah-gah" and he would say "Beirut!" for some crazy reason.
I remember watching Uncle Tony wipe a tear from his eye one Christmas Day as my Cousin Ron opened up his new boom-box, so excited! Ronnie was not his natural born son but I know Tony loved him like his own son.
Then there was a Christmas Eve at the old home place on Eastland Avenue with Grandma and Grandpa Lewis. While all my family was celebrating inside and my uncles were playing Christmas music, Tony called me out on the front porch and slipped me a large sum of money. "Merry Christmas," he said. "I love you."
In later years, I really began to appreciate what a loving presence Uncle Tony has always been to me. I will surely miss him. RIP Uncle Tony
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