Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Another Man's Done Gone

No, this post is not about my vexed love life; it's about yet another old carpenter passing on a little before his time. Awhile back I mentioned that two old laborers I used to work with had passed and yesterday we found out that ol' Dominecker, as we called him, had died on Saturday. His son found him sitting on his front porch, dead. He had only been retired about 8 months I believe. They had wanted him to go to Georgia for that big industrial job but he finally admitted that those sorts of jobs were just too much for him nowadays and so he went on and retired. Dominecker (yes, like the chicken) wasn't his real name, which was similarly spelled, but that's what everybody called him because his real last name was somewhat hard to pronounce for a lot of people.
I would like to say a lot of warm, fuzzy things about him but he just wasn't that kind of guy. His favorite pet name for the guys, especially the apprentices, was "dumbass". He was an ornery, stubborn, aggravating old fart. And I'm being nice really but he kinda grew on ya. Kinda like moss or something itchy. He was the only man we knew that could (or would) chew tobacco, smoke and drink beer (or coffee) all at the same time. You think I'm kidding; I'm not. Needless to say, his health habits were atrocious and we had sometimes theorized that he had actually died some years ago and was just too damn stubborn to admit it. He was one of the oldtimers that helped give us construction workers our bad reputation, something which probably made him very proud.
He was also our only other certified welder, besides myself and I worked with him a few times on welding projects. He was actually very personable and nice to me and confided to me once that it always made him real nervous to have to weld structural steel, which would be inspected. He was afraid his welds would fail and hurt someone.
One of the guys mused at lunch today that he had probably gone out on his porch Saturday morning to yell or shoot at something. Probably. I just hope it was quick for him and not painful. We'll miss you Dominecker, mainly because we know it will irritate the crap out of you.

8 comments:

Hayley said...

That was a nice post. It sounds like he was a real character.

Richard said...

We've all worked with someone like this. Funny thing is that when we look back, they seemed to bring out the best in us...we just don't realize it til they're gone.

MamaHen said...

Hey Hayley! thanks; yeah, he was.

Hey Richard! yeah, that's probably true. I always enjoyed working with him but he was nicer to me. ;)

Beau said...

Somehow I think he would have liked your memorial. It does make one think about the whole of our lives...

MamaHen said...

Hey Beau! I think he would have too.

Rurality said...

Sorry to hear about that. I remember you talking about him... hard to forget that name!

Eutychus2 said...

Sometimes a gruff front is meant to shield a tender interior, and you probably were able to chink that armour. Your eulogy was kind yet honest, I agree with Beau and think he might have even been a little embarrased to realize how much you had revealed from him.

MamaHen said...

Hey Karen! yeah, the guys will remember him for some time.

Hey Euty! I think a gruff front usually always shields a soft inside; at least of the guys I know. It's funny that several of them from work will usually act so different around me and enjoy talking to me about stuff they would not to the other guys. I'm glad they do though.