End of An Era

Yesterday afternoon my great uncle Tom Moffat passed away peacefully. Uncle Tom was one of my earliest outdoor influences. I can remember fishing for bluegills off their dock on Watkins Lake outside Pontiac for hours on end. I learned to sail in his Sunfish on the same lake.

Whenever I hear comments on the "wussification" of the modern man I think of Uncle Tom. This guy was the original badass. After returning from the pacific theater of WWII, he took a job with Michigan Bell as a lineman - because he didn't want to be indoors. When he retired years later, it was only because he'd been buried in not one, but two cave-ins while servicing underground lines. Management wanted him to take a desk job - nope, not this guy. After retirement he and my Aunt Marjorie relocated to Northern MI with a home outside Mio (the southern "winter" place!) and another outside Manistique (the UP summer home). Eventually, I think the Moffats just decided that Mio was too "citified" and moved full-time to the UP.

I always knew Uncle Tom for two passions. One was raising and training world-class field trial bird dogs. Growing up my family's Irish Setter was a result of one of Tom's horse trade deals. I can remember string of Setters in the Moffat household.

The second was shooting, especially trap, skeet, and sporting clays. As a kid I can remember the gigantic reloading set-up on the pool table in the basement. I always marvelled at that operation. Though intensely private and modest, I learned in later years that Uncle Tom was a crack shot. For several years running he was the UP senior men's skeet champion. Folklore has it that when Tom showed up for a shoot, others often just went home.

A recent memory was an afternoon spent with Uncle Tom, my Aunt Marjorie, and my Dad visiting on the porch of their home on Gulliver Lake in the central UP. After a beautiful sunset, Uncle Tom offered to show me a few special pieces. Turns out he was a collector of the Winchester Model 12 shotgun. At one point he had over two dozen in various gauges, models and styles -- all in impeccable condition.

R.I.P Thomas Samuel Moffat; born 23 September 1925, Pontiac, MI; passed 31 January 2010, Manistique, MI. You left a lasting mark on this outdoorsman!

-Sean-