Wyman Babby

I'm sorry for your loss, Lavonne. I hope you are doing well.

I first met Wyman in 1977, although I called him Mr. Babby then. I was 14 years old and had become friends with Wyman's daughter Elaine. I have an early memory of him sitting in the family room, calmly reading the newspaper while feminine teenage dramas raged around him, cats and dogs chased underfoot. Since I didn't have a father, he became a father figure for me, a positive image of what it meant to be a good father and a good man. Elaine, Angela, Lorna and my sister Melane and I have remained close friends over the years. Elaine and I were college roommates and it was Wyman who took us out for a celebratory dinner after our graduation ceremony. I remember how he toasted us and said how proud he was of Elaine as the first in the family to receive a college degree. He just beamed with pride and happiness. There are many other memories too: a visit with him and Donna at their home in western Montana when he took all the girls fishing and he both baited my hook and took the fish off and cleaned them afterward. We had a fine meal of fish, homegrown veggies and wild turkey that he had shot and we all shared stories. He was always so interested in hearing about what I was doing. I spent Christmas with the Babby family several times, and I remember one in particular where he and I had been the first to rise early. We sat in the kitchen and had a laugh about the peculiarities of horses and Shetland ponies in particular. Wyman will always be present in my memory and I'll smile when I think of him.-Kenine Comstock