Remember how much he loved you
Oh he would have loved this
He went by many different names. Of course to Josh and Myself he was Dad.
But he was so much more to all of you. He was Charlie, but never ever ever Charles.
He was Uncle Charlie to his nieces and nephews but not just to them. He was Uncle Charlie to countless friends of my generation.
He was CC or sometimes Uncle CC or uncle cece to the only girl Gamson cousin of my generation and he adored her.
But the name he worked his whole lifetime to achieve was Zayde and once he became Zayde he became Zayde to everyone. He was everyone’s zaydee, if you search his grandchildren’s social media accounts, you will undoubtedly find pictures of Zayde hanging out, not just with his grandkids but with all of their friends as well. Half of those kids don’t even realize he has another name other than Zayde.
Zayde judged everyone. He was very concrete black and white.
He either hated you or he loved you. You were either the most incredible mensch who ever existed, or you were a goniff or a schnerer. There was no in between. BUT your label could always be reversed and they often were. Yesterday’s goniff was today’s mensch and vice versa.
And although it could be hurtful to his loved ones, nobody took him too seriously. It was just Charlie and his way of classifying the world.
It was born not out of malice but out of a little insecurity.
He had a chip on his shoulder growing up in the Orlando Jewish community in the late 50’s. Many of his friends had professional parents. Their parents were doctors, lawyers, merchants and engineers. Zayde lived in a modest house and hauled scrap metal by hand with his father who by all accounts was a character in his own right.
When his friends all went away to college he stayed behind in Orlando. He spent a good portion of his life trying to prove he was as good as all of them. I think his need to classify people was a bit of a defense against those who he feared would judge him. But his harshest critic was unfortunately himself.
For although he came from humble humble beginnings with nothing more than a high school education, he along with help from his brother and partner, was able to create a successful business from literal junk. They were the quintessential American success story. People respected that even if he didn’t realize it.
He loved my mother more than any person loved another for 50 years. He drove her absolutely insane for about 49 of those.
Together they created a home, or should I say a series of homes, where my brother and I were so lucky to have been raised.
There may be a few of you here who remember my teen years. Needless to say, I may not have been the best person back then. My parents’ unfaltering love and support gave me the time to figure out what I was doing wrong and what kind of person I wanted to eventually become.
That is an incredible luxury afforded to so few in this world. I will be eternally grateful for them. And I was especially grateful to be able to help create the only thing he loved as much as Scrap Metal or Susan Barbara Goldman.
And that was of course his grandchildren. I only helped create three of the five. But I got the feeling that was more than enough to make up for the “challenging” years. I honestly can’t speak too much about his relationship with his grandchildren. It is the one topic that will absolutely bring me to tears.But I think we all know how he felt about them.
So let me end today by saying if you are here today either in person or remotely on zoom, The Gamson Family loves and appreciates you so much. The support and outreach is overwhelming and will sustain us through our period of mourning.
More importantly Charlie loved you. He honestly did. I look around this pavilion and I see his friends, his nieces, nephews, cousins and I know this is what truly mattered to him. Do not doubt how much you all meant to him. And how your presence in his life sustained him over the past couple of difficult years.
Finally
I will leave you with 2 truisms about my father
ONE - If you really knew him, he probably pissed you off, infuriated, or offended you on more than one occasion throughout your relationship
Two - If you really knew him, your life is probably better off for having known him
Thank you all again for being here today