Last night we got a phone call that Lori's Dads Tools were gone. Herb was a diesel mechanic among other things, and his tools were his livelihood. He spent his whole life buying, trading, bartering and collecting them. When he began losing his memory he constructed this wall in order to find things that he was looking for that he knew he had. He must have been at the end of his rope trying to remember...and surrendering to this wall. Alzheimer's is a cruel disease. It is most cruel to those who knew the person before they lost memory. For those of us who knew Herb this wall was sort of a monument to him. It is only a fraction of the tools that he owned. It is a shame that an outsider could talk a grieving widow into taking these off her hands...as if he was somehow doing her a favor. He probably did it in about 5 minutes and the rest of the family was not a consideration. Herb's tools will be up for auction on Saturday morning in Breman, a town so far away that it will be hardship to try to get there. It will be a hardship to come up with any kind of money in such a short notice in order to try to outbid a non family member on precious heirlooms. It will mostly be a hardship to watch others walk off with these gems. No accounting was taken as the tools left Herb's residence yesterday. I would be surprised if it all made it to the auction on Saturday as men like Herb's friend are known to arrive not at the funeral, but while the family is at the funeral home or cemetery: they usually rob the house. I understand the lucky fellow made 6 trips yesterday. And he is coming back for the rest of it today...with guys to help him lift the heavy stuff! That is lots of hauling and gas money for someone just trying to do a good deed! Herb's widow will get a fraction of what these tools are worth. She gets the unconditional love of her daughters...who once again get their hearts broken. My own family got broken up over possessions after loved ones passed. Now I get to watch painfully at the sidelines while another family breaks. The moral...must be something about not being able to take it with you when you go...so enjoy it while you got it. I have given my possessions away before when I thought I was about to have the property seized. It is not a good feeling. I guess it all comes down to giving it away or letting it be taken or stolen. Anyone that says anything now will look greedy. After all they were Herb's tools. They belong to his widow. If his daughters want something...well they should have spoken up. They will just have to bid on it like everyone else on Saturday.
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