08/17/2026
Not how I planned to end my weekend, but yet here we are. Very few people in my life have i ever valued their input and my lack of caring of others opinion is something that's been embedded in my core from a very young age. You were my boss at Ford for 10 out of my 16yrs. You will forever remain the best boss I ever had, the memories and stories I tell people about the s**t you put up with while mentoring me into a man from a young boy who can turn a wrench faster then most is unparalleled. We always had a 6 month check in rule, you always wanted to see pictures of the kids, you always asked how I snagged such a looker for a wife with my personality traits. It breaks my heart we talked one month before you passed and I didn't get to tell you just how much I appreciated everything you did for me. You forced me into diesel repair at a very young age in my career and molded me into the man I am today. I truly hope you know that I never forgot that.
The s**t you put up with from me is one for the Guinness books, from me beating the s**t out of the gas shop service manager at the Christmas Party simply because I didn't like him to a few months later me using the construction companies crane they left on property during remodel of the diesel shop and putting his scooter on the roof of said building simple because I didn't like that guy, you were as solid as they come. When he called the cops to report it stolen and you casually came to my shop and said
"Hey guess what you're doing after work"
"Uhh going home"
"Let me rephrase, you can go home, but after 8pm you'll be driving up here and putting the fu**in scooter back on the ground!"
I never once thought to lie to you.... and I did go back to and put it back on the ground.
All the way too me catching and walking a 3ft alligator thru the shop on a homemade leash made of the plastic from parts pallets, you never stopped looking out for me. The day you were let go from Coggin was the worst day in a 16yr career, and one of maybe 5 times in all the years of stupid s**t I put you through, we argued. When I found out you were let go, I quit. I called our old service manager who had became a director at a different store and he said he's sending a truck for my box. You told me no I couldn't quit, you were retiring in 2yrs and I was going to have a new boss regardless. You never stopped looking out for me.
I could go on about you for hours, you were one of a kind, it kills me I didn't make it to your funeral but I just heard yesterday you were gone.
Don, thank you, for everything you did for me. No one else on the planet would of tolerated the s**t I did when I was bored, or watched out for me the way you did.
I'll miss you and I'll never forget you, until we meet again sir.
