The Bybee Chronicles: Where to begin...

This is one of those posts that saddens me to write, but deserves to be written to honor an amazing man and also fill you in on some interesting events in our life. Teaser: I'm writing this while sitting in a hospital room.

On Wednesday, November 20, my grandfather passed away. It was my mother's dad and he was 97 years old. Bob was the most amazing man and he leaves a legacy that our family is extremely proud of. I spent Monday afternoon saying my goodbyes. I sat with him for 4 hours holding his hand. He was coherent while I was there. He looked at me, waved at me and squeezed my hand from time to time. On Tuesday he became unresponsive. I am glad he is finally at peace and been reunited with my Aunt Donna. I know both of them are watching over us from heaven. I am so honored and thankful that we shared the same birthday. He will forever be my "birthday buddy" and I will never forget to honor and remember him each year on September 24. Here is his obituary:

Robert Cloud “Bob” Womack, 97, passed peacefully from this earth on November 20, 2013 surrounded by his loving family. He was born in 1916 to Lesta Wallace Womack and Alberta Louise Cloud in Smithville, Tennessee. The family moved to Dallas in 1923, and Bob graduated from Oak Cliff High School in 1934. While working as the director of tooling and maintenance for the National Housing Corporation during WWII, Bob developed many of the key principles that would later lead to his success in manufacturing and engineering. After WWII, he joined the army to serve as a machinist and a welder during the rebuilding of Germany where he met his wife, Ruth Dengler.

When he returned to the United States, he eventually founded Womack Machine Supply Company in 1953. The Company, headquartered in Dallas, expanded its business by offering free courses and developing numerous textbooks focused on hydraulic and pneumatic engineering principles Bob learned through his own experiences. For these courses, Bob and his wife Ruth created textbooks and those textbooks eventually became manuals used by companies such as General Electric, Kodak, and Texas Instruments. Bob’s fascination with inventing and developing his own products led to the foundation of AAA Products Incorporated in 1960, and his lifetime passion for teaching and learning prompted him to assist Southern Methodist and Texas A&M Universities in establishing engineering labs. In 2008 SMU bestowed upon Bob an honorary doctoral degree in engineering.

An avid outdoorsman, in the mid-1950’s Bob converted an old school bus into an early motor home named the “Yukon Queen” that he drove to Alaska for numerous hunting and fishing trips. One of Bob’s favorite vacation destinations was the Rocky Mountain area north of Gunnison, Colorado. At first he took the family camping in state parks, later camping in the Yukon Queen. He became a talented fly fisherman, and enjoyed teaching his family and friends how to fish.

As a young man Bob traded his airplane mechanic duties for flying lessons. He immediately began “barn-storming” in a biplane, flying to rural areas to make money by providing rides to the people watching him land in an open field. Eventually he became an accomplished pilot who owned his own plane. As his business grew into a multi-state operation, Bob would fly to the cities where he had offices to personally teach fluid power classes using the textbooks he wrote.

In addition to his business and educational endeavors, Bob was also dedicated to his faith and numerous charities. He was a board member of Christian Schools, Inc., which later became Dallas Christian Schools and which three of his children attended. He was also instrumental in starting Christian Services, Inc. which later became Christian Works, an organization dedicated to building healthy families. Bob’s devotion to his Lord led him to be an enthusiastic supporter for the development and growth of church congregations.

An author, an inventor, an engineer, a teacher, a carpenter, a machinist, a pilot, and a businessman, Bob leaves a legacy of service to his community and devotion to his family. He is survived by his wife of 66 years Ruth Womack, brother James Wallace Womack, sister Gertrude Stacy, and sister-in-law Herta Jackson. He is survived by his children, Judy James and her husband David, Harry Womack and his wife Angel, as well as 11 grandchildren, 7 great grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews. He is also survived by his daughter Linda Blumrich and her husband Robert. He is preceded in death by his daughter Donna Womack Dusek and his son Dan Womack. Visitation will be held at Sparkman-Hillcrest Funeral Home, Monday, November 25^th from 6pm-8pm, and memorial services will be held at Walnut Hill Church of Christ, Tuesday November 26^th at 1pm. Interment will follow at Sparkman-Hillcrest at 3pm. In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to the Donna Dusek Breast Cancer Fund at UT Southwestern, P.O. Box 91088, Dallas, Texas 75391-0888, or www.utsouthwestern.edu/donatenow the Donna Dusek Breast Cancer Fund.

Thanksgiving 2011
Please note in this picture the bolo tie and light he has attached to his pocket.
Those are two iconic items my grandfather will always be remembered for having.

Bob holding my hand on Monday.

A couple of interesting facts about him that were not included in the obituary are the machine that puts the ball in your ballpoint pen was inspired by one of his inventions and the air in a biscuit can was most likely filled by a valve he produces at his company. He also designed and produced valves that are used for the emergency steering system on submarines. It is simply amazing all of the things he did in his lifetime and the impact he has had on this world.

On to my next bit of news. A couple of weeks ago Shane, Gray and I all had bronchitis. Each of us had our own concoction of antibiotics and inhalers. Gray and I kicked the illness but Shane's seemed to linger and also sounded worse than we ever were. Early this week he started to feel sick again and Wednesday night he had a fever. He went to the doctor first thing Thursday morning and called me shortly after telling me I needed to take him to the hospital for a chest x-ray. We headed over to the ER where they took blood labs, chest x-rays and a CT scan. It was confirmed that he had pneumonia in both lungs so they admitted him yesterday. So here we are sitting in the hospital while Shane is pumped with antibiotics, fluids and a menagerie of other medications. Luckily Gray is in school during the day and we had family take care of him last night while I spent some time with Shane at the hospital. I headed home around 9pm to go home, help my parents wrap up the obituary Shane and I wrote while sitting in the ER and get some sleep. Shane seems to be doing better but they say it will be a 4-6 week recovery. We hope he will be released tomorrow so we can go home and get some rest before the grieving process truly begins on Monday.

It has been an eventful couple of days and I am beyond ready for some much needed downtime emotionally and physically. Our Thanksgiving may be extremely low key. I have not fully processed the death of my grandfather since I have not had time to myself. I find myself crying in the car between destinations because it's the only time I am alone with my thoughts. Monday evening and Tuesday will be extremely rough and I pray God will continue to help me find peace. I am trying hard to hold it together for not only myself, but also my family, but even the toughest person has a breaking point. Luckily Shane and I have a great sense of humor and found time to laugh while lying in the hospital.

All in a day's work as the life of a sickly man

Life insurance payout, here I come!

I choose to end this post on a happy note and share some photos of us. When Gray turned one I decided to get some family photos taken. With all of us being ill, it was hard to schedule anything. Luckily, the husband of the lady at Gray's school that absolutely adores him does photography. He came over to our house and we took some photos at a park and trail near our home. We love the photos and could not be happier with how well they turned out given our circumstances. (A big "thank you" to Scott Wagner!) I'm sure you will notice we had to work hard to get Grayson to smile. :)