The youngest–Vance–is pictured here with Barry’s kids who are cheesing for the camera to show how much they’ve grown in comparison to the uncle they’ve seen far too rarely.  This pic was taken about five years ago.

He died of a heart attack last night; he had just turned 47 in September.

Vance was the dreamer of us three, and all the math and science genes clearly abandoned me and joined forces with the two boys, sexist things. He was a renaissance type fellow; he could do most of what needed doing mechanically, had worked on construction for enough years to be a good carpenter, had started but—because of other issues never been able to finish—an engineering degree. He was a bit dyslexic, had had a kidney disease since he was a kid and was on daily dialysis (lately twice-daily), enjoyed cooking and often prepared Wednesday night supper for the church, and enjoyed the outdoors. He liked reading everything from fantasy to detective fiction, but demanded that the characters and plot be sophisticated and fully-dimensional. He enjoyed computer games to a limited extent, and the greatest limitation was largely having the equipment or the time to play. But perhaps most important, he loved his family—especially his wife and children—and has been a source of comfort for Mom.

The funeral service will be Sunday at Indian Springs Baptist Church in Tallahassee, and because I cannot get there in time and would have to turn around and come back two or three days later, I’ll do as Mom and my very special sister-in-law recommend and not try to go—however much I yearn to be there, even knowing that I couldn’t get there before Monday and would be liable to be stranded along the way.

This has not been a good year.

Some holes just cannot be filled.

ETA: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/tallahassee/obituary.aspx?n=vance-alan-robbins&pid=146904146

More soon.