by HH "Hub" Brown
 
Well, I've lost my old buddy, Bob,  the first person I remember, and probably will be in my thoughts at the end of my life. 

 Our mother always said she never felt better than while carrying a child, but seemed to always have a real scary time after each birth. My two older brothers, Bob and Jady, had been "farmed out," as they used to call it, to one of Dad's sisters and one  to the couple that raised Mom. When they finally brought them home, here was a couple of strange kids because I didn't remember them at all, so I laid them out in lavender for touching my toys. 

 As a little boy, Jady was painfully shy and was seldom interested in anything Bob and I did. On the other hand, I soon became Bob's constant companion. He always knew in the morning what we were going to do that day and I never questioned his plans. 

 Once in a while he would take advantage of my gullibility and my belief in him. EJ used to give us a week off around the first of July and though his wedding anniversary was the 2nd of July, that never stopped him. He had just bought a new canoe. The canoe that he and Jady owned and the one I had always been used to was a 21-footer and had sponsons built in on each side. Five people could sit on a side of that canoe and it wouldn't tip over. I had my new camera in my hand and I asked Bob if this one was as safe to sit on the side as the old one and he said it was. I gingerly tried it and was quick enough to get my feet under me and just saved my camera from a good soaking.

 Bob was always our leader and our guide. Jack Carmen, who lived on up Route 26 from Bob, said to me one time, "You don't think I'd be here if it wasn't for Bob, do you?" Jack died from cancer from sucking on his old pipe so much. More than once we had got lost on big Bark Lake and Bob would find the way out. I never knew of anyone who didn't like him. 

 One time, a group of us were hunting deer in the Adirondacks. Some native guides had been hired to make and mark a trail and then build a three-sided cabin for overnight hikers. They made and marked the trail but when it came to building the shelter, they went away from the trail and built a cabin that they could put a heavy tarp on it for a front and use if for their own private camp. We started in on the trail from Big Moose to Tupper Lake about 10 that night and as we only had the directions of an acquaintance of Bob's where to leave the trail we soon felt lost. Bob said, "I'll take the gas lantern and when I find the cabin, I'll fire my gun." We heard the gun and soon got back together again.

 It almost seemed as though Bob's purpose here on Earth was to make people laugh. Jim Greene up at Glen Aubrey said to him one time, "Bob, when I'm looking at you in your coffin, I'll have to laugh at some of the things you've said." Jim has been gone more than 10 years. He will be missed by all his "22" Club members or anyone else that knew him. I think for all the joy he brought into our lives, God may forgive some of his earlier indiscretions.

 Good-bye, Bob.

Editor's Note: Hub's brother Robert "Bob" Brown, Sr. of Maine, New York,  died on February 27, 2003. He was 99 years old.