Vince's Journey

On Friday, July 27; my father-in-law - Skeets Riestenberg - went out to lunch with a few of his buddies to one of their favorite lunch spots. While there, he suffered a massive stroke and later that day, with his family by his side, he passed away. As I mentioned in my previous post, my mother-in-law - Viv Riestenberg - had been in the hospital last week because she had experienced stroke-like symptoms, as well. She was released last Friday only to learn that Skeeter had been stricken by his stroke.

Skeeter was a great guy. He was a loving husband and caring father and grandfather; his family meant the world to him. He coached baseball on the west side of Cincinnati for more than 35 years and I can only imagine how many lives he positively impacted during that time.

He loved to fish but he also loved to take naps which earned him the nickname, Captain Sofa. He loved his sweets and had stashes of peanut M&M's and chocolates scattered about their condo. When I first met Skeeter he always had a cigar in his mouth but after finding a cancerous growth on his lip, he gave them up. He did continue to chew his favorite Beechnut chewing tobacco, though.

Skeeter was a pretty simple guy, actually. He grew up on the west side of town, went to Elder High School, served his country during WWII and returned to the west side to raise his family. His sons went to Elder and he was a member of the Elder Dads Club right up to the day he died. He knew what he liked to do and he did it. Skeeter didn't live his life out loud, he was perfectly content being in the background letting others have the spotlight.

I've had the honor to know Skeeter for close to 25 years and can honestly say I don't think I ever saw him mad unless you want include his continual frustrations over the Cincinnati Reds inability to play sound, fundamental baseball - now that would get him fired up! But it didn't stop his desire to watch or listen to the Reds play; if a game was being played Skeeter could be found close to a TV or radio following all the action.

Skeeter's visitation and funeral mass will take place Thursday and Friday (August 2 and 3). I'm sure the stories will be flowing; we'll cry, we'll laugh and remember a man who touched us all. Vivvy, his wife of 56 years put it best; 'He had a great life', and he did. But that won't make saying 'goodbye' any easier because he will certainly be missed. We'll miss his smile, we'll miss his laugh, we'll miss his snoring from the sofa, we'll miss his pessimism during Reds and Bengals games, we'll miss him sneaking out for a chew, we'll miss him getting several new packs of underwear for every birthday and Christmas and much, much more. The world could use more guys like Skeeter but unfortunately with his passing; there's one less - and we're going to miss him.