Beem Weeks's Blog - Posts Tagged "teachers"

Grandfather's Uncle by Philip J. McQuillan

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Have you ever wondered about those ancestors that came before you? I’m talking about your grandfather’s uncle. Do you know anything about that sort of relative? If you’re like most people, you know next to nothing. It’s just the way of life. A person can be virtually forgotten within two generations.

Philip J. McQuillan understands this fact of life all too well. So he set about ensuring his own father wouldn’t be lost to future generations of McQuillans. His book, entitled Grandfather’s Uncle, is not about his granfather’s uncle. Instead, it tells the story of the author’s father, painting a wonderful picture of the man, his times, and the things in life that brought him joy. Most importantly, this book captures the personality of a man no longer residing in this realm.

Big Philip, as the father was known, lived to the ripe old age of ninety-eight. Philip, the son, documents Big Philip’s love of card games, cooking, golf, tennis, classical music, and great literature. But the author takes it even further, sharing the many favorite words and phrases spoken and savored by Big Philip, going so far as to present these in bold type throughout this memoir to his father.

Big Philip spent his life as a high school English Literature teacher. He also worked evenings as a radio announcer at a local radio station. You could say the man was a people person of the first order.

Now, before you decide this book isn’t for you—who cares about another person’s memories, right? Wrong! This is an important contribution to history. It brings back to life an everyday-American worthy of being remembered. These memories stirred up my own recollections of long-gone grandparents, great-uncles and aunts, and the close family friends no longer on planet Earth. We all know about Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, and Harry Houdini. These were famous people, men made immortal through the dozens of books, movies, and documentaries depicting their lives. But what about those, like Big Phil, who weren’t considered famous? Are they any less worthy of being remembered? Thankfully Philip McQuillan thought to capture this amazing man and his life on the pages of a book.

This is a short read, running at about thirty pages. But it is no less entertaining than a three-hundred page biography. This is something we should all consider. I lost my father just two years ago. I now have grandchildren who will never know that man. To write my remembrances of him would be a gift to my grandchildren, sure, but it would also honor the one I called Dad.

I enjoyed reading this memoir. I am certain that many others will take great joy in it as well




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