STORIES AND REMEMBRANCES

Rick Rose: Whereas I may not have all of this right, it’s the best I remember.

When Andy was young, he said three guys jumped him. He said when he gets hurt, he gets angry and feels no pain. So, he hit one of them. He went down. He hit another and he went down. He thought to himself, “Wow, they go down easy.” I asked him how he hit them, He showed me an uppercut with his huge fist. No surprise.

He was a football center when he weighed about 180. I asked if they guys on the opposing team were bigger and he said, yes a lot. I asked how he handled it and he said, “Whoever goes lower wins.” End of story.

Just a couple of weeks before Andy went home, I met a guy named Kevin who was working the gate at The Whaler. I asked if he knew Andy and with a smile he said yes. He said Andy delivered mail to his family and he used to drive the kids around the block on his truck, hanging on! I told Andy about him and he remembered him and told me to ask about his brother. Andy remembered almost everyone he ever spent time with or delivered mail to. And he remembered their families.

Andy shared that as a youth he spent a lot of time in the water and at the beach. Several times, I invited him to join us at the beach. He’d say, “Too sandy.” I’d ask why not go out in the water and he’d say, “Too wet.” One day I asked him what he’d do if three big Samoan guys picked him up and carried him into the water and there was no way back but to walk on the sand. He said, “I’d beat them up.”

He had a couple of sayings about those who didn’t use the intellect God gave them. “When you look into his ear, you see a sign. It says, “Room for rent.” or “The elevator doesn’t go up all the way.” He said to me once that there was a star up in the sky like me, “the one that’s not so bright.”

He was quite quick witted. He was sharing a story and said, “His friend…” I, as usual, interrupted with a quip, “Your one friend.” He quickly replied, “No, I have one and one half friends. You’re the half.”

Andy had an incredible mind. A few years ago, I told Andy that some friends postponed dinner because they had a late lunch. Years later, I was on the phone with Andy, saying I was 10 minutes from arriving at his house. He said, he couldn't meet me because he had a late lunch. I was concerned he was losing his mind until a minute later, I drove by Roy's, the restaurant where the postponed dinner happened. He'd be able to tie long ago events together with something currently happening and I'd be in awe of his memory and ability.

Andy and I had too much fun at times. Once, we even got the best of Pastor Chris, who neither of us could get the best of individually. We were out to eat and his wife wanted some steak sauce and the waitress was nowhere to be found. I looked over at Andy and said, "Hey Andy, let's make a scene!" Chris replied quickly, "Please guys, don't do that!" We laughed and used that as one of our memorable lines.

Ed Quiring:

Serving Andy's delicious cooking at Ka Hale A Ke Ola with him was a highlight. And then when he needed someone to take him shopping at Costco it was the beginning of our every other Tuesday morning date. At first we shopped separately but as his eyesight got worse I went right with him and found what he wanted. Often I could not understand what he was asking for, especially when we had to ware masks. He wanted some kind of barbecue sauce and I could not hear what he was saying. Then I started to laugh as I said we are quite a pair. You can't see and I can't hear. One day I saw two bottles of the barbecue sauce he wanted. They were the last two and he said I will take both. Just then a lady came by and said she also had been looking for that. Andy reached into his cart and gave her one. And then there was that special white Hawaiian honey. He used it in his coffee. They never had it but

Andy would say okay you go and find your stuff and I will go look again for that honey. We would meet up there before checking out. One time I met him there and he was holding this jar. I said sorry Andy that is almond butter. Then about a month ago I saw they had that special white honey but Andy wasn't there. I grabbed a jar and found Andy over by the checkout. He was smiling. He had ten jars of honey in his cart, two hundred dollars worth. Two weeks later he got four more. Question. What is the family going to do with all that honey?

But here is what was so special about Andy. Except for the honey and dog food almost everything he bought was to make a dinner for someone else. What a special generous man.