I am simply going to say it: One of many first issues anybody would discover about Bob Prichard needed to be his hand. It was brutally mangled – some fingers lacking, the remaining unartfully rearranged. Actually, I could not carry myself to ask what had occurred to him, and when Bob voluntarily advised me, some years into our friendship, the story was so unimaginable I assumed he was joking. I imply, Bob had an overactive humorousness; certainly he hadn’t really been hit by a freight practice – as a toddler! However, oh my goodness. Sure, he had.
Here is the factor, although: About two seconds after you met Bob, that hand did not matter one whit. In reality, regardless of figuring out this man for greater than 15 years, I could not inform you whether or not the affected hand was proper or left. Extra surprisingly, neither may his lifelong greatest pal, enterprise companion and next-door neighbor Frank Shimkus. Once we met to reminisce about Bob over espresso, we each guessed it was his left hand. We each had been flawed.
“That is why he pitched together with his left hand,” Bob’s son Aaron advised me.
Bob did not simply pitch. As a younger man, his huge repertoire of curve balls, junk, good pitching and swap hitting attracted the eye of the St. Louis Cardinals, whose scouts tried to signal him to their farm staff. They even promised to make him a customized glove, so he would not should undergo his circus routine of tucking a daily glove underneath his proper arm whereas he threw together with his left. Bob’s mom went behind his again and put the kibosh on that deal.
However that did not imply he gave up baseball. He continued pitching – hardball and softball – in rec leagues on the Brown Bomber Ballpark properly into center age. He additionally performed shark-status pool, darts, shuffleboard and horseshoes, and strummed guitar properly sufficient to mimic Elvis. There isn’t any telling what Bob would possibly’ve develop into if he had two good palms.
As a substitute, he made his dwelling working in development trades. Starting in his teenagers, he labored as a plumber, a contractor, a builder, a repairman – simply an all-around handyman – which is how I and lots of different individuals in Springfield got here to know him. Within the years since I met him, I’ve owned two properties, every greater than a century previous, and I couldn’t have survived with out Bob. Within the first home, he transformed the kitchen and most important lavatory twice, rebuilt the entrance porch, dismantled a treehouse, and addressed extra plumbing points than I may rely. The storage was collapsing, but additionally constructed throughout a property line, so Bob – whose formal schooling topped out with a GED – devised a strategy to keep away from authorized shenanigans by stealthily rebuilding your complete construction from the within out.
He had that innate creativity that is vital for coping with many years of Springfield jury-rigging. He at all times found out what may very well be achieved and had a manner of speaking me out of what could not. He knew my monetary limits, in addition to my youngsters, my canines, my mates, my work schedule, and the code to my entrance door. Continually working from one job to a different, he had license to return and go just about as he happy, and I do know that the majority of his purchasers felt the identical manner. Bob was 1 million % reliable.
He wasn’t fairly excellent. I as soon as made Bob change model new chrome lavatory fixtures purely as a result of I do not like shiny stuff. So later, when he put in my kitchen sink, he added a chrome faucet that he had discovered for a cut price. “I do know you hate it,” he stated, “however simply do not wash it and it will cease being shiny.”
After I employed him to fortify my yard fence, resulting from my canine Rosie’s discovery of some mysterious escape hatch, Bob inadvertently let the canine out – whereas constructing the fence to maintain her in. He drove round on the lookout for her for hours, completely distraught, till she nonchalantly sauntered residence. We had a working joke about all of the methods I’d’ve killed him if Rosie had not returned. Someday later, when Rosie was killed by a reckless driver, Bob despatched me a fantastic potted plant.
Through the years, I seen Bob fading away, from slender to featherweight to so skinny he needed to put on some model of bedazzled denims, as a result of they had been the one ones that stayed up on his scrawny ass. Apparently, he subsisted on a weight loss plan of espresso for breakfast (one pot, perhaps two), and ice cream for dinner chased by his favourite beer or tequila. He had shoulder alternative surgical procedure (partly due to all that pitching, and partly – Aaron later advised me – from taking a tough fall in my yard). And he continually struggled with COPD, exacerbated by his lack of ability to kick cigarettes. This yr, Bob devoted most of his time to being caregiver in chief for his beloved spouse, Betty, who has a number of critical well being points. Reserving him for work grew to become understandably unattainable.
Sooner or later, I used to be standing on a downtown avenue nook, ready to cross, once I noticed Bob’s rattletrap van fly by. I instantly dialed his flip cellphone and requested, “Hey, was that you simply?” He stated yup, he had simply picked up one thing for Betty however he had been eager about my newest restore request and had a terrific concept, he would get again with me quickly. Seems, that was our final dialog.
Bob died June 19, on the age of 74. Sitting up in mattress, he dozed off and easily did not get up the following morning. It appears unattainable that such a pressure of nature snuck away so quietly. I nonetheless consider him each time I bathe with my most well-liked plumbing fixtures, each time I cringe my shiny kitchen faucet, and each time I go the Watch out for Canine signal I hung to cowl a gap within the drywall that Bob is not right here to patch. I’ve discovered one other handyman, however I’ll miss Bob Prichard ceaselessly.
