This is a tribute to my friend Pokey, a man whose life changed mine forever. My world, down to my very vocabulary, is saturated with this wonderful man’s influence and personality and I will forever be reminded of the intensity of his spirit. This was the kind of guy that you loved at first sight… He just gave me this immediate feeling like he was part of my family, and eventually, family is what we became.

I will never forget the day that I met him at Uncle Wesley’s in Easton, PA, home of his Red Rovers High School football team. As we ate burgers and fries, quaffed a few Yuengling drafts, and chatted about everyday stuff, I felt as though I knew him all of my life. We became fast friends, and whenever I came home from Houston, we got together for a good time in his legendary “BatCave”. For 11 years, Pokey’s presence in my life was something I always enjoyed… cooking, cars, projects, parties and walks with the dog through his beloved orchard were the simple things I always looked forward to.

Along with those good times back home in PA, we made it a tradition to attend the NHRA national drag races in Texas each spring. For 10 years, we counted the days until March, when we would breathe the Rubber and Nitro fumes until we were intoxicated… The beer and barbeque helped, too. Every friend I have in Texas has been to the drags with Pokey. I remember him always saying that “the time We spend with you and Angie is the best week of the year”, and that time together carried on throughout the year, with frequent phone contact and the inevitable “Funky Friday” call at 5:30 PM every week when work was done. That’s when we would pound a shot together to kick off the weekend, while listening to old funk on the radio.

Our trips and vacations together were always memorable. We saw Beauty and the Beast on Broadway and watched as the wreckage of the the Twin Towers smoldered. We stayed at the Beverly Hills Hotel when I had my first gallery exhibition, and we drove a hot little Lotus on the Pacific Coast Highway. Pokey’s affable nature and his unflappable sense of humor were his trademark, and he always made our time together fun and funny. No one was quicker with a clever phrase than he… If you were having a crappy day, a dose of his wit was the best prescription. I remember one time in a fancy restaurant, after he gnawed a buffalo rib chop down to the bone, the waiter came by and asked if all was OK, and Pokey said “I don’t care how much that cost, it was the best thing I ever ate!” The waited quickly said “great, cuz it’s FORTY NINE NINETY NINE” and sashayed off. The look on his face was priceless, but he shook it off and said “welllll… I still don’t care”, but he picked up and chewed on that bone a little while longer. We were hysterical… as much as he was funny, he was a great straight man.

Wherever I go at home in Houston, there is a reminder… places we’ve gone, stuff we built or fixed together, and a multitude of little things he gave me in the tool shed. He used to look for certain items in there and come out and say “I can’t believe you don’t have a _________”, and would say “C’mum” drag me off to the auto parts store to get one. I will surely miss that, and his never ending complaints about our dirty cars, which magically got clean before I got out of bed in the morning. His Christmas presents to me were always something to make my life as a home handyman easier, and they will always be cherished and well used.

We had long talks about everything under the sun, and no one has ever seemed as much like me as much as Pokey did. We agreed on and loved so many of the same things about life, that I feel as if part of my own self is gone now… maybe I should just concentrate on the part of me that he contributed, but those long talks will be sorely missed. And one more thing…

I never had a conversation with Pokey without him telling me that he loved me. I know that was true, and I feel so much less today without his love… but if everything they say about God and Heaven and Guardian Angels is true, and he is up there loving me from the great beyond, then today I am the king of the world. Pokey had many friends, and I don’t know most of them, but I bet they all took one thing away from the time that he was in their lives… he showed us all what a true friend is. God bless Robert Stokes, and may his friendship and love never be forgotten.