TRIBUTES TO JOHN OLIVER By his wife, Natalie Oliver |
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I knew and know what a great man John was. He was always there for me, even when things were not so good. I knew that all I had to do was call. He knew the same about me. But in the complacency of daily life, I had forgotten what he meant to others, if I ever really knew at all. I still do not believe I know the true amount of people he touched or the depths of how he touched them. It is a shame that this had to happen to make me see. I remember the bear hugs that Don spoke of in his words of John at John's memorial. That is one of my most missed things about him. First thing in the morning walking up behind him in the kitchen and hugging him and having him turn around to hug me back. We would joke that with his "dough" belly getting bigger and my "soda" stomach not trying to be outdone, that soon we would not be able to get our arms around each other. No matter, he always said that I was pretty or beautiful. That my eyes shined, that my auburn hair was the prettiest color, that he loved me. And when I looked at him I saw the 25 year old Marine that I had married. He never changed in my eyes. He still looked damn good to me. He said he loved me so often at the end of phone conversations, that he was beginning to tell friends, male and female alike, that he loved them at the end of phone conversations from force of habit. But I know he did not tell me he loved as a habit, he said it because he meant it, every single time. In Loving Memory of John Edward Oliver |