Alton Loren Daffin, Jr.

Al was my dear buddy starting back when we were little kids! We rode bikes, played marbles (only game where I could beat him), played baseball, football and any other game together. Daddy and momma thought of Al as part of our family but he just slept next door! Momma patched up our boo-boos and scrapes (which were many), fixed our PB&J’s and Daddy fixed the bikes and other mobile travel. We passed toys through the cut hole in the screen on the front porch and during hurricanes passed food through that opening because Al’s family had a gas stove and our’s was electric…got to have coffee! Al’s first motorized means of travel (and injury) was one of those frog green scooters. He rode it in the ‘back alley’ and wasn’t to go down by where the IP First Aide Clinic was located because of traffic on foot and other larger vehicles. IP had stretched a small rope across this area one day because of something that was happening in that area the next day. Only problem was that Al didn’t see that rope (or the red flags tied to it) and the rope caught Al just below his chin and he did a spin around the rope and the scooter didn’t! Both lived to see another day but with a few scrapes to show what it was like to tough it out! When IPCO was going to put in a drainage path in that same ‘back alley’ culvert pipes were standing on end at the end of this alley and made a terrific place to play hide-and-seek for the alley kids. One day Al’s foot didn’t quite reach the rim of the next pipe and Al fell onto the next pipe and broke his arm. As his patents were leaving to take Al to the hospital to have his arm set and cast applied to help keep it in place, I waved goodbye to them and went into my backyard to play with my little dog. While playing, I was going to jump on to the center island in the fish pond to get away from the dog and tripped on the pond’s edge. I launched myself onto one of the rocks cemented into this area where the sprinkler system located. I got a split lip and a black eye from this and Al accused me of trying to outdo him! I think he won that prize though!!! When Al bought his first car he brought it to show daddy. He had saved putting on the radio antenna to let daddy help him put it on the car…daddy was tickled that Al would be so thoughtful to share this momentous occasion with him! Al was a very kind and thoughtful person that was always ready to lend a hand when needed. I thought of him as a dear brother from another mother, a leader (that got us into minor trouble), but most of all a very dear and beloved friend. I have missed talking to him for awhile but that will just give us more to talk about next time we’re together! Love you, my ‘brother’!!! ❤️