Thursday, January 20, 2022
It’s almost impossible to reminisce about growing up in Oak Valley without thinking of Del. Del was larger than life, extremely intelligent always teaching and challenging his children and their friends in his own special way…. Very Special way. He didn’t like giving short answers. He often asked questions before he would provide you an answer. One may think this was his way of being difficult, but in reality, it was his way of making you think more deeply…..about EVERYTHING… The true beauty of Del. I loved watching him challenging Jim on everything, including math problems to the 3rd or4th decimal. When I think of Del, the 1st thing that comes to mind is Coffee cans. Lots of them in his garage. Most home owners have a place (a junk drawer, etc..) where they might store nuts, bolts, screws and various types of things all mixed up in one container…Not Del. Del had 1 specific coffee can for each type of item… He didn’t just have a can for bolts, another for nuts another for washers, etc… He had a can for each type of nut, bolt and washer…For each size of nut, bolt & washer AND EVEN EACH THREAD COUNT OF EACH NUT & BOLT…Regular nuts, wing nuts, flange nuts, fine thread, coarse threads, ETC Lots of cans. Living so close to the DelPiano’s, I have tons of memories. This one special memory still gets told from time to time even at 64 yrs old. It speaks volumes of the “Inner Del” In preparation for getting my drivers license, I wanted to convert my Galaxy 500 from a 6 cyl to a V8…So I asked Del if he would mind if I used his garage for a week or two. While he did not hesitate to say ok, he then asked me LOTS OF QUESTIONS… He was just being Del…. Well VERY VERY long story short…. 3 months later I finally pushed the car out of his garage and into my driveway to finish up my 4 month project. The Stories, Jokes, Ball Busting, & verbal challenges that took place in those 3 months were truly Priceless and will never be forgotten. Del was truly Priceless…RIP Buddy!
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