Cousins

On Tuesday, July 30th, my cousin, Henry Baxter Googer, died at the age of 76. Baxter, as he was known, was an only son as I am. He was also one of many cousins I have. My motther had eleven members in her family, and my father had one sister. The children of all those brothers and sisters are, of course, my cousins.

Baxter was a unique man. He served in the military during World War II but he did not see battle. He was drafted in 1945 and eventually saw garrison duty in Germany. Upon his return to his native Stone Mountain, Georgia, he became one of the local fixtures. He worked for years in the insurance industry, underwriting, in neighboring Atlanta, but he became most known in his home town because toward the end of his life he owned and operated a unique gifts emporium. He would collect fine antiques and porcelain pieces and resell them through his small shop. In an atmosphere that enouraged browsing and chatting, he enjoyed meeting the people who came in and interacting with them as they looked around in his shop. He was a man of class who enjoyed having fine things around him.

Every time I see a perfectly decorated Christmas tree, I have for years thought of Baxter because each year he enjoyed "going to the trouble" for Christmas. He would make sure every ornament in his considerable collection was perfectly positioned on the branches of a large and symetrical fir tree. He would wrap the packages with beautiful paper and ribbon so that the sight of his living room where the tree stood looked like a Normal Rockwell painting.

On Friday, I served with his two sons, Hank and Patrick, and three other friends as a pallbearer at his funeral. I was honored to have been asked to do so and grateful that I could. Given Baxter's love of beauty and his willingness to go out his way to docorate things exactly as they should be, it was not surprising at all that he was burried in his tuxedo.
- posted by Perry @ 7:15 AM