My sister, Carole, died about a year ago and my brother, Ralph, died last week. I was three years younger than my sister and ten years older than my brother. I don’t know if you are like me or not but my sister, I can explain it because she was older. My brother, ten years younger, I can’t explain it but it’s one of the things in life you have to accept. I feel like the Lone Ranger now. I used to joke with my sister that I’d be the first to go and my brother, he believed it like I did. Now, I’m the only one. I have great memories of my sister, and my brother, even there were ten years difference, we had a good time.

Ralph graduated from Brownwood High School shortly after my dad died unexpectedly at a very young age and I thought he was going to be a hippy his whole life. He was a straight running hippy all the way through high school and all the way through college. I used to love the pictures of him with the serape on and it was about mid-August. He was a special guy.

He didn’t prove himself athletically to any degree except he was a huge fan. Boy, he was a fan. He loved the Brownwood Lions even though he kept up with them kind of long distance. I remember in 2010 he told me, “Hey, I can’t make it to Dallas to see the semi-finals, but you get the Brownwood Lions in the finals and I’ll be there.” He called me shortly after we lost to Carthage a week before that game would have happened and he said, “I’m sorry. I should have gone. I had so much confidence in them winning that I didn’t go but I’ll never make that mistake again.” I don’t guess he will any more.

He loved the Texas Longhorns because that’s where he went to college. Fact is, he and a friend went thirty something or forty something years to the Texas-OU game. I was envious to say the least. He loved to call me and say, “Guess where I am?” I’d say, “Where?” He’d say, “What’s the name of this course? Pebble Beach, that’s it.” Yeah, he was definitely special. He was a lawyer and he got, as he said, “Punished many times” at Pebble Beach. You’d think after several years he would get Pebble Beach straightened out law wise but I guess not.

Probably in his later years, he was more a fan of the Houston Astros than anything. Fact is, he and his wife live – literally – across the street from where the Astros play. So, he was a huge fan. He used to walk over and he said, “I got to sit anywhere I wanted to.” He would send pictures of them in the stands. I got to looking at his life and I said, you know, people especially in my house, used to think I was a rabid fan of the Texas Longhorns and the Houston Astros and so forth and so on, but I’m really a fan of my brother, envious of what he got to do in his life, and forever envious of the Houston Astros.

He was musical where I didn’t have talent one. He was gifted and could play the guitar, and play it very well. He passed that talent on to his kids who are talented as well. Speaking of kids, he was so proud of his grandkids, always sending pictures.

My brother knew me and knew me very well. He found out several years ago that I had become a Christian and he laughed at me. He said, “You? A Christian? That’s going to be hard to live up to, Pardner.” Well, it wasn’t as hard as I thought and it was an amazing thing that I saw in my brother. He visited Center City Baptist Church I know one time, maybe twice, but he went to church and by golly I think he liked it. Later in life he told me that he was going to church with his wife and it meant a lot to me. If my decision had anything to do with his decision, then it’s about the most important thing I ever saw.

So, this guy who loved playing golf, loved the University of Texas, loved the Houston Astros, loved his music and a few other things, he was an “idol” of mine.

Until next time, so long everybody.

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‘Out of the Box’ with Dallas Huston is published each Monday morning at BrownwoodNews.com. Dallas was the radio voice of the Brownwood Lions and Howard Payne Yellow Jackets for more than 55 years. He currently is Pastor of Center City Baptist Church and hosts a Men’s Bible Study in Brownwood on Monday evenings. Your comments are welcome at [email protected].