Page 172 - a-columbia-county-boys-recollections-and-memories-of-columbia-county-florida-(2012)-lenvil-h-dicks

A Columbia County Boy's Recollections and Memories of Columbia County Florida (2012) Lenvil H. Dicks

was hiding. Just as they approached it, all I had to do was raise up my shot gun and shoot right down
that flock of'birds, length wise, and after doing so 1 went and picked up 8 dead birds off the ground. I
think I ran all the way back home, which was close to a half mile, to tell my ma what I had done.

I really liked to hunt doves when I was a boy, and we always cleaned them and fried and ate them. Dove
is one of my favorite things to eat until this day, although 1 have not eaten any now for many years.

But back to Tribble, from time to time he would send me some kind of present, and would write to me
occasionally, as he was accustomed to writing ma very regularly. Sometimes he would write a separate
letter addressed to me, which 1 thought was big time, and really appreciated it.

After Tribble retired as a full Commander from the Navy, he enrolled in Stetson University as a
freshmen, as a man in his mid 50’s. I feel that one of the reasons he chose Stetson was because he knew
that I had been so fond of Stetson, and had not done too badly as a graduate of Stetson.

So, he got his bachelor’s degree from Stetson 4 years later, and in the meanwhile he and his wife Vera
had purchased a home on Euclid Avenue, and upon graduating, he got a job teaching biology at Deland
High School. After 3 or 4 years of teaching biology at Deland High, he regularly taught a course in
Human Anatomy. In his young days, at about which time the Great Depression started, Tribble had
wanted to become a doctor, but of course he never made it. The closest he got to it was teaching that
anatomy class at Deland High.

A couple of years prior to Tribble’s death, which I think occurred at about the year 2002, he came down
with bone cancer which affected the lower part of his spine. He spent approximately the last 4 months of
his life in the hospital, gradually growing worse and worse.

Almost every weekend, I would drive to Deland and spend a couple of hours with him in the hospital,
and I was accustomed to taking my trumpet with me and playing a couple of songs for him in the
hospital, since he had always seemed to admire my ability to play the trumpet. I made certain that the
hospital staff and the other patients had no objection to my doing this, and I was assured by all that it
would be perfectly ok. So every time I went to see him I would take my trumpet, and play 1 or 2
numbers of his choosing.

Finally after he had been in the hospital for about 4 months, one Wednesday morning I was sitting at my
desk and out of the clear blue sky 1 decided “1 think I’ll just drive down to Deland and see Tribble
today”. I was probably not doing too much anyway, but whatever it was I dropped doing it, went out and
got in my car (which coincidentally also contained my trumpet,) and drove to Deland. This is the first
time I had been to see him when it was not a weekend.

When I got there Tribble was lying in his bed motionless, and just from looking at him you would have
wondered if he perhaps were not already dead. I attempted to talk with him, to no avail, and got no
response until I said “Tribble I’ve got my trumpet. Would you like me to play something for you”. He
opened his eyes and said in a voice that I could barely hear “1 sure would like that”. I ask him what he
would like to hear, and in a very small, weak voice he said “In the Garden”. So I played it and he was
lying there with his eyes closed, breathing in a very shallow manner, and after I finished playing I said
“well, Tribble, I guess I’ll head on back to Lake City.” He did not respond in any way, and I left and
went on back home. I feel that the Lord led me to go to Deland in the middle of the week to see Tribble,
despite the fact that all of my other visits to him had been on weekends.

I received a call that night about midnight that he had passed away and I will never forget that the last 3
words I ever heard Tribble speak was “In the Garden”.
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