Corky Cecil
Ted was the big brother I did not have, he was my uncle, my mothers youngest brother, and the pride of the family. His family uprooted from Pennsylvania and moved to Arkansas when he was nine, and so it was that he could have a horse, and he named it Blaze. Our house sat next to the railroad tracks and just about every time the train came through Blaze would escape the pen. Ted became known in the little town of Everton as the kid with a "Trained" horse. Ted's proudest day was the day he joined the Marines, and he was a good Marine. He came back from "The Forgotten War" Korea and never said a word about it, he just started College at the University of Arkansas on the GI Bill and set about to become an Electrical Engineer. On weekends when he came home from school he would have me doing college math problems all weekend so I would not bother his studying. This is where I developed my love of math and why I also went to the UofA in Electrical Engineering. The half-cocked smile in his picture is the same as it was whenever after I would work for hours on a simple math problem, get frustrated and give up, then he would give me the solution, and the next problem! My first summer out of high school (we both graduated from Valley Springs HS) I went to Plano to live with him, his wife, and Keith and Bryan, on the ranch outside of Plano. He had me drive the 50 Chevy pickup that he so lovingly restored. Two days after driving it I threw a rod on the interstate. He was not happy! But I did get to learn how to overhaul an engine under his guidance. Teds' desire to be the best at anything he undertook came from his time in the Marines. It showed in his work at Texas Instruments and in his subsequent need to be an entrepreneur with his own company. Ted was generous with his older sisters, Jeanne and Marie. Both had tough times in life, and Ted helped both when they needed it most. In December 2013, his sister died, and Ted came to Harrison, AR for the funeral. Afterwards, we mentioned that we wanted to go up the mountain to my wife's brothers cabin, located on the Buffalo River. Ted asked how far and how long it would take, and someone told him about an hour. Ted was in the caravan of cars, and OK when we turned off the good road onto the dirt mountain road. When we got to the lane for the cabin, we stopped the cars, but no Ted in sight. My son Matt said he would go back down the road to see if Ted had slipped into the ditch or something. He found Ted, Joyce, and Missy at a small white church along the road about 20 minutes back, Missy frolicking in the graveyard. When Matt asked if anything was wrong, Teds answer was, "You said it would take an hour, the hour was up and this is as far as I go! He finally conceded to go further to the cabin but we had a great laugh on that retort. He seemed to always drive his own bus in life, and that trait stayed with him to the end. I am glad I got to see Ted in the rehab facility, but I could not do for him what he wanted most, which was to escape! I will miss him. To Kris, who has been such a lovingly irrepressible caretaker, my deepest thanks for being there for Ted, whether he liked the ride or not, you made it possible for him to do it his way. To Sharon, with so much understanding and concern, to Bryan and Keith, my heartfelt condolences. Corky Cecil