How do we measure the success of a man’s life?
Is it a well-rounded family, a successful profession, a devoted wife?
For Allan was a man that had all three,
Tall in stature, a robust man, straight as a ponderosa tree!
We met Allan and Claudia in Arizona at Rancho Del Oro,
The golden years respite where there was a golden tomorrow!
We were all there to celebrate, a well-deserved rest.
Time to reflect, attend happy hours, and attempt to pass the golf test!
Florence, Evan and Alice, Jim and Phyllis, Ralph and Bette, Allan and Claudia, George and Liz would all play together once a week!
To determine who was first on the green, closest to the pin, lowest score, a winner each hole we would seek!
We all had a great time when we hit the links!
Hassling each other on each hole, who was the shark, and who’s golf stinks,
Ralph was the grandmaster and kept track of who owed who, the big bucks!
The sharks would argue and bicker, sometimes an expletive, the ladies would say, “shucks!”!
Now Allan and Jim knew that they were here just for the fun, as they knew they were the hackers!
No need to give their money away, but they did not want to be slackers!
So they created their own betting circle, not with bucks but with a nickel!
Allan the Berkley-Turkey and Jim the Pickle-Van Sickle.
Ralph would pronounce that Evan owned him one dollar,
“You owe me a nickel Jim,” Allan would holler!
Allan and Jim had a great time imitating the sharks and their exchange of money,
While they were quite serious in their dialogue, the sharks did not think their actions were very funny!
This rapport all changed when Allan had his challenge in life,
His movements were now confined to a motorized chair and the help of his loving wife.
Watching TV, dozing, and idolizing the Sea-Hawks, occupied his day!
Wearing the blue and aqua-green was all he needed to say!
When the game was tense and the Hawks needed a boost,
Allan would put on his Hawk Hat and on his bald head it would roost!
It always produced results; the score would go up even though sometimes the winning margins were thin!
Even though Allan couldn’t state his feelings, he would produce an ear to ear grin!
Allan lived inside that sphere for twelve long years,
Never complaining, trying to cope, over-coming everyone’s fears.
Allan moved his home from Maple Valley, to reside in the Naches, between Bald Mountain and the Nile.
His little slice of heaven, beside a river running cold, beauty that one could not defile!
Allan had his cars, his toys, his desert jeep, his family and a content life north in the summer and south in the winter,
And for now, he is in an existence, more content, not hindered by life as an uncomfortable, handicapped splinter.
A spirit, free of wheel chairs, climbing pole and a medical bed,
A special memory, imbedded in the minds of each one who loved him inside their head.
And so it is, that in the blink of God’s eye we will all be together again and you will hear Jim say,
“Allan Berkley, you still owe a nickel to Van Sickle!”
Allan Leroy Berkey (1934 ~ 2015)
Allan Leroy Berkey passed way on Tuesday, April 21, 2015 in Yuma, Arizona he was 81 years old. Born January 26, 1934 in Williston, ND he was a Coast Guard veteran.
Allan will be missed by his loving wife, Claudia Berkey of Naches, Washington. A private cremation handled by Johnson Mortuary in Yuma, Arizona.
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