I have just been informed of my father's passing

[KamaAina]

in February! Needless to say, we were estranged; I had not seen him in person since 1971. Only in the last few years had we even begun exchanging birthday and Christmas cards. Would you believe, the first one of these I got was signed, not "Dad" or "Daddy", but "John R."!

It was the birthday card that tipped us off, or rather, the lack of one a couple of weeks ago. Mom, whose instincts in these matters are not to be gainsaid, suggested during our weekly phone call Sunday that perhaps he had died. A quick trip to his hometown paper's website confirmed this.

The weirdest part of all this? From the notice:

On February 4, 2007, John A. (KamaAina) of Parkville: beloved husband of the late Patricia R. (KamaAina); loving brother of George H. (KamaAina) Jr.; brother in law of Margaret R. Hart and her husband M. Richard; uncle of Jonathan P. Hart, Kathleen R. Hart, and Kelli J. Schlossenberg.

Notice anything missing? If you said "father of KamaAina of Honolulu, HI", you win the grand prize!* (*-no actual prize to be awarded pursuant to Republican Party contest rules) How bizarre is this? I know for a fact that Mom had been in contact with brother George just a few years ago, so it's not as though they were unaware of my existence, as though I was his love child or something. :eyes: Maybe the Bushies have declared me an unperson...

Poignant final note: The number of entries in his online guest book was three. One of the three said "Say hello to Pattie for me", so I may deduce this was actually a friend of his late wife.

edit: poiganat?

[wildhorses]

1. my father and i are not on good terms.

i wonder what his passing will be like :shrug:

you have my sympathy and condolences :hug:

[SPKrazy]

2. sorry to hear this

must be very hard, i am sorry.

:hug:

[Gormy Cuss]

3. That's just sad.

Do your cousins know of you? Perhaps one of them wrote it without consulting Uncle George.

That's still no excuse for failing to notify you. It's not up to them to decide whether you would care to know.

[applegrove]

4. Sorry.

[QueenOfCalifornia]

5. That is the saddest thing

I've seen in a while --

he didn't include you in the obit ---

I was omitted from a couple of obits because I wasn't one of "them" any longer ---

It does hurt.

I send my sympathy to you.

Mahalo