John Frederick Carson Jr.

John Frederick Carson Jr., son of John and Lilian Carson, loving Husband to Audrey, Father to sons John Robert, Christopher Lee, Matthew James, Patrick Shawn, Grandfather to Elizabeth Claire, Shawn Daniel, Timothy Michael and last but not least Katherine Taylor... departed this life this Monday last. His last moments were in sleep and is as usually the case for many... herald by a change in the world - not sunrise or sunset - not the early morning when most are asleep - but with rain and lighting and thunder! Heaven has its band.

My father was many things but he was first and foremost fully vested in being both a great provider and a committed parent. Every bit the product of his generation - a disciplinarian, law giver and even at times even unapproachable he latter mellowed, softened along the edges causing great consternation to his off spring and as one would expect joy to his grand children.

He was in his youth handsome, devilishly good looking to the very last. Heroic and accomplished. He worked on the rails as a teen seeing the West from a vantage point romantic and dusty. He ventured North to Canada to do as young men do.

Adulthood was no duller. Try as he would he could not fly "fixed wings" and was prone to crashing a prop or two... only then to become a consummate, decorated all guns blazing helicopter pilot Captain of the 4th Army (it would seem he found what was for most easy either difficult or pretended as much to then excel at what was impossible for nearly all). He graduated Law school… never practiced a day of law in his life, exceded at counseling the most successful to be even more so. He never followed sports but was nicknamed for his running speed and prowess on the clay tracts of the day - "Flash" and "Kit". Latter he slowed to a lazy sail at sunset.

He could fix anything - plumber, wood worker, sheet rocker, engine repair, roofer, fence builder, pavement layer, window sealing, electrician - should I say more. He was the "go to guy" for every sick sounding motor, resistant door jamb, squeaky step, leaking pipe and home improvement imagined. He repaired, maintained, built from scratch when needed not only his home but his community leaving all improved and better then before.

My father was a nation unto himself, a stalwart rock from which we all mored our prospective ship - through storm and doldrums, heat and cold, wind and rain he was our anchor and our harbor.

He was visited by sickness in his last days and was never heard to complain or seek sympathy. He took nothing from those he loved but steadfastly gave in return. He was strong, stubborn, opinionated, brilliant, talented, he was Dad, Husband, Parent, Provider, he was ours all.

He will be missed and better yet still one of those rare few no one forgets - for what is better for anyone, any of us then actually leaving an echo constant, a loud refrain and a long singing chord in the world left behind.

A Memorial Service for John will be held 10:00 AM, Wednesday, October 26, 2011 in the Chapel of Sparkman/Crane Funeral Home, with Rev. Josef Vollmer-Konig officiating. The family will receive friends at a reception immediately following at the funeral home. Inurnment will be Wednesday afternoon at DFW National Cemetery in Dallas.

Memorial donations may be made to the Wounded Warrior Project at support.woundedwarriorproject.org.