Terry Rumfola

To The Rumfola Family,

Your Father was a very fine man and the brief encounter that I had with him through Jason demonstrated that Terry was a good and kind-hearted man.

I know that you will miss him greatly, but know that someday you will see him again and he will waiting with a fishing pole in hand ready to fish for all eternity.

God Bless You and Your Family - Sincerly,
Beverly Ladnier
Friend of Jason & Glenda Rumfola

hmmmm....another goes home to get ready....ready for us all to be caled up to the Lord, our Saviour, Jesus Christ. My cousin Terry seemed more than that to me. Our worlds intertwined from childhood to adults. I always will treasure how he showed his love to my dad, his Uncle Dael, in helping him with so many things. To my dad, he was the son he did not have. To Terry, it may have been the dad he was missing. It was a beautiful relationship, one that will live on in our hearts forever. Peace be with you, my brother, until we meet again.

email correction....katdix02@sbcglobal.net.

Looking at old photos I am reminded of how much fun time spent with Terry could be. Terry was never boring. He was happiest when camping, middle of the night in mud and water up to our knees fishing, cooking our catch by a huge campfire. He had a beautiful smile and a laugh that will be with me always.
He was a man in all the traditional Italian ways yet at a very young age and into my teens he would brush and style my hair which was bonding time that only a Brother and Sister can share.
He was a very handsome young man and very popular in school with the girls.
He was a falable human being like us all, he was my Brother and I love him.
He is gone from here but very much alive by the Grace of God. So until we meet again in sinless bodies my dear Teddy Bear.

Terry was one of my favorite friends when we were little.
Godspeed.

For me, this song says it best...

I remember Daddy´s hands, folded silently in prayer.
And reaching out to hold me, when I had a nightmare.
You could read quite a story, in the callouses and lines.
Years of work and worry had left their mark behind.

There are things that I´ve forgotten, that I loved about the man,
But I´ll always remember the love in Daddy´s hands.

Daddy's hands were soft and kind when I was cryin´.
Daddy´s hands, were hard as steel when I´d done wrong.
Daddy´s hands, weren´t always gentle
But I´ve come to understand.
There was always love in Daddy´s hands.

Hey Terry!

I have been so preoccupied with memories since I learned the Lord called you home a little more than a week ago. So many of them are slowly fading away but I can recall a few and I am grateful for that. Maybe a few more will return to mind – I’ll be sure to write them down for Jason, Buddy, Jennifer and your grandkids.

I remember the house on Chocolate Bayou Road. It was out in the country back then and we so loved living there. There was the swing in the yard I fell off of and broke my arm, the pasture in the back of the house where we played and the dairy farm down the road. I can’t remember his name anymore but the owner would let us visit there sometimes and actually let us help milk the cows. We thought that was really something. Remember Daddy putting a sheet over his head and making scary noises like a ghost outside the window one Halloween night? He scared the daylights out of us and I can still hear him laughing his head off at us and how relieved we were it was just him.

Remember how you sometimes called me Becky-Butt and I called you Te-Doo-Doo? Or trying like heck to coax Kay-Bo to come to you instead of me? She always came to me and I sure liked to give you heck about it. We sure were silly when we were kids and you had a special way of making me laugh – especially when we played the laughing game and you and Chris would pretend fight in slow motion. You were also the family protector – nobody should mess with the Rumfola girls or Terry would get them! Do you remember playing in the overgrown ditch behind the house and pretending it was our own private jungle? You and Chris especially liked it and would get so dirty playing back there Mom would have a fit over the mess. Do you believe our favorite meal back then was fish sticks, macaroni & cheese and ranch style beans? It was such a treat to get to eat out at Princes once in a blue moon.

I remember the trips to the country to visit our Rumfola/Wendt aunts, uncles and cousins. On the way, Daddy would turn up the radio when “The Duke of Earl” came on and we would all sing it as loud as we could. We had so much fun hanging out with our cousins, feeding the chickens and pigs and riding horses. I also remember Pappy’s place on Ardmore – we had a lot of fun there too especially when he allowed us to go into the garage apartment out back and check out all the neat antiques and stuff he had stored there. What about swimming in the ditch out front and that time Chris got in water over his head and I pulled him out? I remember the wild blackberries – we would eat them off the vine. The fragrance of honeysuckle still reminds me of Pappy’s land.

Do you remember how excited we were when Hurricane Carla came through? We got a little scared when the lights went out and Mom & Dad made us get into the bathtub during the worst part of the storm. There were all the downed power lines and snakes everywhere outside! But, we thought it was all just awesome. How about climbing that chinaberry tree and chunking chinaberries at each other? Remember Lady Girl? God how we loved that dog and we all grieved so when she died!

I remember we would look forward to school being out for the summer and how much we loved going barefoot in the backyard, playing Red Rover, riding bikes and playing in that little swimming pool we had back then. Camping with Mom and Dad was a blast especially at Huntsville State Park. I remember swimming with you over to the floating dock and I would usually beat you there. It really ticked you off I could swim better than you. Then, there were those times we snuck out my bedroom window (with our little Kay-Bo insisting on going too) after Mom had gone to sleep just so we could lay out in the yard and look at the stars.

Daddy’s death 40 years ago was hard on all us kids but especially on you and Chris. I don’t believe you ever fully recovered from it and I truly believe you missed him until the day you died.

When we got older you wanted to hang out with me and my girlfriends so you could flirt with them. They all thought you were incredibly cute and of course they were right. I remember how shaken you were by Starr White and Tina Pratt’s deaths. You had so much to mourn at a young age.

I wish I could find that picture of you holding Jon in the swimming pool when he was just a baby. You were so excited about being an uncle and then about being a Daddy. Just a few years later you once again had a death to mourn – your sweet little 6 week old Patricia Ann. I know you are taking good care of her up there in Heaven.

I just reread that letter you wrote to me in 1985 – the one where you had pulled out some of the old school house pictures and gave your impression of the expressions on my face and those of my classmates. Once again, you made me laugh. Christmas that year was so very special because you, your kids and Mom traveled to Bedford to be with us. Chris was there too and you got to meet Lindsey Kay for the first time. Mom recalled often what happened when you were driving back to Houston that evening. The car broke down on the highway or ran out of gas (can’t remember which) and you hiked back a ways to try to find help. While you were gone, Mom and your kids were sleeping in the car all bundled up in jackets and blankets because it was rather cold. A car swerved off the road and rear-ended your car shattering the back windshield. If your kids hadn’t been all bundled up under the blankets they could have been hurt badly because there was glass everywhere. When you came upon the scene a few minutes later, Mom said you came running and screaming up to the car because there were emergency vehicles of all sorts, lights flashing, everywhere. You didn’t know if anyone was hurt or not and you were so upset until you found out everyone was ok. You loved your kids and your Mom so much.

Thank you so much for fixing my car that time Jon wrecked it. I had no insurance at the time, was newly divorced, had no money and didn’t know how I was going to get to and from work. You saw I had a need, I didn’t ask you – you just provided for your sister.

There are some things in life which are uncertain. However, I am completely confident that the essence of who you are is alive. You are in Heaven right now with Jesus Christ, Mom, Dad, Pappy and Patricia Ann. Your earthly woes are over and you are happy beyond anything we can think or imagine. I look forward to the day when I get to see you again, free of our sorrows, pains and differences - reunited in God’s perfect time. We are three siblings remaining here now – Kay-Bo, Chris and I – but not forever. We will be four again some day and that confidence makes me very happy. I hope you knew how much I loved you, always have, always will.

Your sister, Becky

The poems below were found in our mother's Bible after she passed away a little more than 4 years ago. I hope you find comfort in them now that Terry has joined her in Heaven.

After I'm gone
What care I for the snow white rose
Placed in my cold, stiff hand?
For the rose is a flower
without any power
To hasten me to God's holy land.
The days that will come and the days I have spent
Will not be all in vain.
For when I meet God and He sits on His throne,
My work on earth will still reign.
So farewell to all. I'm going away
To where pain and sorrow never come.
And when you think of me, just say a prayer
And live to meet me in my heavenly home. Lillian Sanders

I am home in Heaven, dear ones:
Oh, so happy and so bright!
There is perfect joy and beauty
in this everlasting light.
ALL the pain and grief is over,
Every restless tossing passed;
I am now at peace forever,
safely home in Heaven at last.

Hey Terry it's your sister Becky again. A coworker invited me to walk across the way for lunch at Prince's a few days ago. She knew it was still too difficult for me to talk about your passing without the tears welling up but somehow the conversation came around to you anyway along with our childhood memories. Then, to my amazement, what do they begin to play in the restaurant? Yep, "The Duke of Earl" playing away right there at Princes where on a rare occasion we had the money to eat out as kids! I mean, it wasn't the SAME Princes but still, it was Princes, right? I hadn't heard that song in YEARS but I recognized it right away. Even remembered some of the words. I (of course) HAD to tell my coworker the whole story, choking back tears and finally crying right there in the booth. I also HAD to text our sister Kay-Bo to let her know the unbelievable thing that was happening. Anyway, the thought crossed my mind it must be you up there in Heaven, in your own way, ribbing me just to let me know you were watching. Well, if it was, I just want to say thanks, I got it, it was truly AWESOME! XOXOXO, Becky-Butt