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Their Last Gift

by The FHFH Staff

From: Helen Spong
Sent: Tuesday, January 21, 2003 7:52 PM
To: Rick Wilson
Subject: Memorial to Bob

MEMORIAL TO MY BELOVED HUSBAND, BOB SPONG

OUR GOD, NOT ONLY GAVE HIS ULTIMATE GIFT TO US, HIS PRECIOUS SON, JESUS CHRIST, BUT BESTOWED UPON BOB A SECOND GIFT DURING HIS LAST DAYS ON THIS EARTH.

GUNNING SEASON CAME IN AS USUAL THE FIRST SATURDAY FOLLOWING THANKSGIVING YEAR 2001. BOB WAS IN HIS FIFTH MONTH OF RECUPERATING FROM OPEN HEART AND LUNG SURGERIES. NEVER THE LESS, THIS PARTICULAR MORNING, HE DONNED HIS HUNTING GEAR, ALONG WITH HIS TRUSTY GUN, TOOK OFF TO HIS 'SHACK' NEAR OUR BARN.

HIS THOUGHTS WERE NOT TO SHOOT A DEER, BUT TO JUST SIT THERE, MUSING OVER WHAT WAS AHEAD FOR HIM, KNOWING THIS WOULD BE HIS FINAL DEER SEASON.

HOWEVER, GOD HAD SPECIAL PLANS FOR BOB THIS DAY. HE SENT AN 8-POINTER TO HIM.  AND MY EXCELLENT MARKSMAN HUSBAND RECEIVED HIS TROPHY, WITH GOD'S BLESSING, AND DONATED HIS LAST BUCK TO FARMERS AND HUNTERS FEEDING THE HUNGRY.

GOD THEN ASSURED BOB THAT HE WAS PREPARING A PLACE FOR HIM IN HIS KINGDOM.   BOB JOINED OUR LORD FOUR MONTHS LATER AND WAS LAID TO REST ON HIS 77th BIRTHDAY, APRIL 15, 2002.

THE MYSTERY
By: Ralph Hodgson
 
HE came and took me by the hand
Up to a red rose tree;
HE kept his meaning to HIMSELF
But gave a rose to me.
I did not pray HIM to lay bare
The mystery to me;
Enough the rose was Heaven to smell,
And HIS own face to see.

A Email From Western Maryland

Hey guys....Monday afternoon a search party found my Great Uncle Robert Halley Sr.—dead. He had gone deer hunting Saturday morning, the Maryland firearms opener, and did not return to camp that night.  Searches were started but were hampered by the weather which kept the Maryland State Police helicopter grounded. A ground search on Sunday both day and night came up empty which is no surprise to those of us that knew Bob.  Finally at approximately 13:00 hours on Monday his body was found.

With him was a fully field dressed deer that he was in the process of dragging out when he apparently had a massive heart attack.  In the true Halle spirit his last deer was donated to FHFH.  May God bless and comfort all of us and may we all die with our boots on after one last successful hunt, or doing whatever we enjoy most.

Bob was an avid deer hunter, and finding him was a tough job as he loved to hunt in the old ways...he tracked his deer down. He didn't always get his deer but he always came back to camp with a smile on his face and a story or three to tell.  He was 65 years old and he died doing what he loved most, hunting and tracking whitetails. Our camp fires burn a little less brightly these days and our stories are all about memories of Bob.

Bob leaves behind a loving family and a large number of brother hunters and brother firefighters.  He touched many people during his lifetime and more than once his hand touched my bottom after I'd did something particularly stupid...(laughing out loud).

Farewell Bob, you are now and will always be sadly missed until the day we are all together again in God’s Kingdom where we will once again roam the woods in search of the wily white-tailed deer.

I miss you and love you,
Michael

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