My Dad’s Passing

Hello,
On January 8th, 2008 my Dad died. He was 82 years old and he wasn’t sick or suffered form a terrible illness. He got the flu and for a couple of days he was sick with that but no worse than any of us when we get the flu. He got up about midnight and told my mother he was feeling bad and maybe a warm bath would help. He took a bath, sat down in his chair, laid his head back, and that was it.
I was in Odessa, TX. about to rope when I got the call. My mother said he left strict instructions if anything was to happen to him, unless she needed help, he didn’t want me to fly home. He didn’t want a viewing, a funeral, and no flowers. He said the flowers would die and that money could be better spent if people wanted to send it to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital to help sick kids live that would be a good thing. My Mother said that because my Dad wanted me to stay where I was I flew my wife to California to help with anything that came up and I stayed in Texas.

Every time I was in California to see my parents or I flew them out to see me I always wondered if this is the last time I’ll ever see my Dad? When he was at the Nation Finals he walked a little slower, his eyes were a little grayer, and he was a little more bent over. When I got the call one of the first things I thought of is what he told me when my Grandfather, his father, died. I was sad, of course but he told me something I always think of when I hear that someone has passed away. He said that all things die. You, me, the flowers and the trees, die. That’s the way the system was designed. There is a beginning, middle, and an end. When you come into this world you have to promise to leave because if you didn’t there wouldn’t be any room for the children being born. Try to live each day to the fullest and be the best man you can be. So with that thought I took my wife to the airport and came back, saddled my horse, and went for a ride. As I rode this thought came to me. One of the main reasons I have had some success in my life if because of my Dad. The way I catch and saddle my horse is because that’s the way he said to do it. When I shoe my horses I do it his way. When I get on a colt I cock his head around to my knee before I get on is because that’s the way he taught me. When you shake a man’s hand, stand up , look him in the eye. Be respectful to people. Get up early in the morning and don’t be afraid of hard work. Hard work builds character in a man he would always say. Try to have something that you are passionate about because you have to have something to look forward to. The thing that my father taught me that helps me the most, through this life is something I learned one summer day when we were shoeing horses out in the middle of the country.
My Dad made a living for our family shoeing horses. And mostly back yard horses. We would shoe two and trim an old mare in one spot. Drive 10 or 15 miles and shoe one and trim a foundered pony. He didn’t have big stables that he shoed for, mostly just everyday horses. It was the middle of summer, it was hot, and we were shoeing this knucklehead. He was tied to this big pole next to a tin barn. He wouldn’t stand still and he tried to kick my Dad a couple of times. I was getting sick of this horse. Something spooked him and he pulled back and sit down like a dog with the lead rope as tight as you could get it. He was suilled up. I mean he wouldn’t move so I ran around behind him, grabbed a rope, and whipped him across the butt in an attempt to make him go forward. Just as I did my Dad came running towards me and threw me out of the way and said. What if that rope would have broke when you were standing behind that horse. He would have flipped over and landed on you. He said when you’re out in the world you have to look around, pay attention, and think about what might happen. Think ahead!
That lesson, that day is what helps me through life everyday. It helps me when I’m in Chicago, South Miami, or in the middle of the wilderness in the mountains. When I’m at a stop light and it turns green I always look both ways just incase someone doesn’t stop before I proceed, all because of that day.
Every summer as soon as I would get out of school, I worked with my Dad, up at 6, breakfast at 6:30 and out the door before 7am, five days a week. I learned allot more than how to shoe a horse bouncing around in that old green truck every summer. When the work would get hard and it would be late in the day my Dad would always remind me of what we were going to do in mid August. Every year during the hottest part of the summer we would take our horse’s way up in the top of the Sierra Mountains and head for Gabbits meadows. You unloaded at the trail head at about 8000 feet elevation. It’s about a 4 hour ride to the most beautiful place on earth. He would lead a pack horse, as would I, and we would stay back there and fish and rest all week. It was cool and beautiful, we would cook fresh trout for dinner and it still remains my favorite place.
We would always stop half way on the ride at a place where fresh water comes right out of the granite rock. It makes a large fresh pool at the base of the rock. We would always water the horses and we would get a drink ourselves right there where the spring comes out. My Dad would always smile and say you’ll never have a better drink of water in your life then that right there and I never have.
A million miles away form that spot is a place called Las Vegas, NV. After I had left home and been rodeoing for several years I met some people that ran some of the casinos in Vegas. They wanted me and who ever I wanted to bring to come to Las Vegas and enjoy the shows and one of the people I took was my Dad. He didn’t want to go because big cities wasn’t really his thing but finally he agreed so away we went. Zegfried and Roy was at one of the hotels and we had front row seats and the show room was packed. At on point in the show they brought out the biggest elephant out and turned him around right in front of us. When he turned his but hung out above us. My Dad got up and moved back. I tried to get him to sit down but he wouldn’t. He told me in the middle of that showroom that there was a chance that that animal might step off the stage and a man will only get stepped on by one elephant in his life and it wasn’t going to be him that night.
My father wishes were to be cremated and his ashes are in his home in California. This summer after all the snow has melted in the high sierras I’ll drive to the trail head. I’ll saddle a good horse and I’ll take my Dad for a ride. I’ll stop half way and get the best drink of water I ever had and water my horses and then we’ll continue on. There’s a place that over looks the meadow and the Lake and I think I’ll leave him there. I’ll rest there for a while and then I’ll ride back.
So as I travel through this world Dad I’ll be careful and I’ll think ahead. I’ll make sure I don’t get stepped on my any elephants. Because like he said, “you’ll only get stepped on by one elephant in your life,”
As always I will remain
Your son, Walt

Walt Woodard