Trying to bury our daddy
My name is Erica Fipps. My little sister, Erin, and I just lost our father this past Saturday, October 1, 2016. We are still waiting for the official results, but it seems to be that he had a heart attack on his way home from getting supplies for his house. Erin and I are all that is left of the Fipps family and we are desperately trying to find a way to bury our father as he wished. I am a teacher in Duval County and Erin is a single mother beginning her new job next week in Mississippi. Needless to say, we are just two daughters trying to survive independently. Now, we are trying to work miracles to be able to lay our father to rest in peace as he deserves.
Our daddy was a great man! He was not perfect but he was the perfect father for us. He worked hard every day for the little that he had and he loved his two little girls with all of his hulk sized heart! Our father is a veteran who was stationed in Germany while in the Army and lost his brother in the Vietnam War. He was honorably discharged from the Army in 1972. After I was born in December 1985, he began to work construction, running heavy equipment with Barco Duval. After many, many years there he was laid off due to the poor economy and lack of work available. After struggling for a few years, determined to find a job despite his limited job experience and no education, he was able to get his feet back on the ground. About 10 years ago now, he was finally able to buy a trailer on a piece of property in St. Augustine, FL. He was so proud of this accomplishment and we were so happy and proud to see him finally having something to show for all his hard work. He was always working on something at that house, even when he didn’t know what he was doing. He would always find a way to make it work, eventually…or, he would just end up accidentally breaking it and saying, “it was a piece of junk anyway”.
Although our father didn’t have much, he wanted the best for my sister and me and would do anything he could to give us what we wanted. He was trying to get everything organized and prepared for the day he would not be here with us anymore. He did not want us to have to deal with his death and the stresses of planning and paying for a funeral, as no parent does want for their child. The problem is that he was taken away from us before he could finish getting everything together. He had no life insurance or will set up yet. Because of these two things, we are now in an even more difficult place. We are having to not only plan a funeral and figure out how to pay for it, but we also have to hire a Probate Attorney to prevent having the state take all of his property. We do not want to lose the little he had and worked so hard for, especially because he didn’t get the chance to write a will.
Our father gave us so much love and we are going to miss him every day. No more big bear hugs, no more kicks in the behind, no more preaching about how we don’t listen to him, no more lessons on the importance of taking care of your vehicle, changing/checking tires, brakes, and the oil. No more telling me I need to learn how to cook so I can get married someday. Never again will he take us out to practice shooting at gallon jugs into giant dirt piles at his job sites. We won’t ever again be awaken by him at the crack of dawn to go fishing, then have him remove the every fish from the hook because we don’t want to touch it. He won’t be there to walk us down the aisle at our wedding or dance the father daughter dance with either of us. There are so many things that break my heart because we did not, and will not, ever be able to experience moments like these precious ones with our father.
Although I am hurting because of the things we will not be able to do with our daddy, I am also very thankful that we do have so many memories made with him. So much of him makes me who I am and because of that, I will be able to share him with my own children someday. I know our daddy lived his life for my sister and me from the moment we were born to the day he died. We were his two little snot nosed brats and nobody could take that away from him! Now it is our turn to do everything we can to give him the one thing he asked for when he was gone, to be buried, NOT BURNED! (He was very adamant about that.)
We are looking to do the most simple service and burial available for him. We don’t want or expect much, we just want to show our father the respect he deserves and at least be able to grant one last wish of his. Thank you so much for caring enough to read this and learn about him. Anything you donate towards helping us bury our father is more than appreciated. We are on a time crunch though because we can't bury him until we pay the total amount.
Please help us do right and grant one last wish for a Veteran, a blue collared hard working American, a friend, our father, Fat Daddy!
Jan G. Fipps 2/24/52 - 10/1/16
I love you forever and always Daddy!