I don’t think Uncle George did things because of a will to succeed; he did that many times over. I think he was so driven because he saw how never giving up, always stepping up, and always saddling up helped so many others to succeed.

I don’t think he ever told me no when asked to borrow his truck and trailer, boat, camper, tractor, or whatever I may have needed.

Uncle George traveled many different trails in his life, but the constant was service, family, and friends.

He was a big John Wayne fan. I smiled when I read a magazine not long ago that talked about Wayne: “His characters are known for their toughness, swagger, and confidence. He embodied a certain kind of manliness, regardless of whether he played a soldier, or a cowboy.”

I smiled because it wasn’t a character; it was George Kohout’s life: “Toughness, swagger and confidence.” And he was a soldier and a cowboy!

I learned many things from him early in life: take your hat off when you enter someone’s home, not to lay my cowboy hat on its brim, how to hold my reins, and there’s really no bad time to have a whiskey and apple juice. Which I experienced for the first time on a pack trip and forgot my canteen.

I wanted to include a good Wayne quote that fit Uncle George, then I thought of the same pack trip and his own words when I asked, “Why can’t I sleep up front, not in the back of the horse trailer?” He replied, “When you pay for the truck and trailer, you can sleep wherever you want; until then you better shovel out the horse sxzt!”

I’II close with this: Don’t wait until someone’s gone before you let them know how much meaning they had in your life, because even heroes die.

J.A. Thomas