Remembering Uncle Todd

It was a year ago today that my family lost one of its members and a great friend. My Uncle, Todd Augsburger passed away, last year after a battle with ALS. To say that I miss him and that the family misses him would be a major understatement.

Naturally, I cannot remember a time without Uncle Todd. When my brother and sister and I were kids, we used to spend much time at my Aunt and Uncles house. If my parents were going out of town we would stay with them. When we were very young, they lived in a house across from a park, which was nice. Later, they had a bookstore, located in downtown Kenton and owned the apartment above the store. We would spend much time there, playing games and visiting.

Uncle Todd would always be working on projects and their home was full of older antiques that he would work on and get working again. He always seemed to be interested in how things work and what makes them tick. He would work on models and refinish furniture. I remember he had an old pinball machine that he got to work, and that provided all of us with hours of entertainment.

When we were younger, we would watch PBS and every so often we would watch a show of a guy who painted landscapes (Bob Ross). We would say that we were watching Uncle Todd because, at that time, he had the same style of hair and beard.

While the picture might not be very good, you get the idea

Uncle Todd loved to try new things. As far back as I can remember, he was always trying something different. As far back as I can remember, he managed a hardware store, a Christian Bookstore, was a Church Secretary, and also developed computer software. It always seemed like he was interested in how things operate and if he had inkling to see how something worked, he would just do it or work with it to see for himself.

Later on, he developed an interest in Roller Organs. Odd choice of course, but not at all surprising considering his personality. He read about them, researched them, and collected them. I know he had the largest collection of Roller Organs in Hardin County and perhaps even Northwest Ohio. He and my aunt owned a house south of town which also included an old school house and he would display his organs and also renovated the school house so it looked authentic. Once I interviewed him for a college project and it was great to see him walk around and talk about his collection.

He even wrote a book about Roller Organs!

He would sometimes take one of the organs uptown for parades and would walk around the square showcasing it. He had the hat, and a little monkey that would ride along, and he would just walk around the square playing the organ and showing it off to anyone who happened to be there.

The two "Todds". My brother, Willam Todd, and his namesake

Music was important to Uncle Todd (and I think that was imparted to me in a small way) He played the guitar and was in the church choir. I remember going up to Lakeside which is a Methodist Church retreat and he would wake the whole house up every morning by going room to room playing his guitar.

Like I said above he would always be interested in trying new things. One of these was fishing. I think he always had a knack for it. When I was younger, he and my aunt lived near a pond and we would go fishing there often. All types, summer fishing, ice fishing, you name it. Once, when I was much younger, I was not having a particularly successful day on the pond and he came out, and was almost catching them left and right. I, like a typical kid, would follow him around the pond hoping to get a bite at the place he did (and this, of course, never happened). As I got older, I got better, of course, but I’ll never forget that memory.

One of my favorite memories of Uncle Todd happened a few years ago. The family was all out at their house and we were fishing at the pond. There is a picture of all of us sitting on a bench beside the pond looking at the water. This was posted to Facebook and someone had left a comment asking what we were all doing. I, being the smartass that I am, and thinking I was being clever, commented that we were all waiting for Godot. (Waiting for Godot is a play by Beckett. More info can be found here). I didn’t think anyone would get it but to my surprise, Uncle Todd commented that he thought it was hilarious line. I’ll never forget that.

Like most of my family, I miss Uncle Todd. He had a unique way of looking at the world, and I always thought he was genuinely interested in what was going on in our lives. He was funny, honest, confident, and committed to whatever he set his mind to. He loved my Aunt very much and all of us as well. To say that a void exists in his absence would be an understatement. However, I know a time will come again when we will meet in the afterlife so I don’t consider him gone forever. I have the memories, some of which I’ve shared here among many others. I’ll never forget.

In closing I leave you with this song from the film “Prairie Home Companion” which I think is appropriate. In the film the character, Chuck Akers, sings this on the live radio show just before he passes away. Every time I hear it, I think of Uncle Todd.