She’s not dead yet! However, I am afraid she will be soon, though I have been here before with the old girl. She came into our ownership in 1988. I believe that if it is possible for a car to have a heart and soul, Big Brown has both. She has been with us through many years and has been faithful, hardworking, dependable, and yes, loveable.
In 1988, we determined that we needed a minivan to haul children and grandchildren for those great family times together. We contacted a friend who said he would look at the auction for such a car for the money we said we had to spend and soon called saying he had purchased a van, which had never been in a wreck, and with a good heart (enough power). It was brown. Well, perhaps not our first choice but OK. We had opted for the larger motor and the extended back and she had those. We were still excited when we got her though we found that most of the plastic rivets that held her overhead and side upholstery were missing and within a year the resin in her fender began to crack and expose that, yes, she had been in an accident. She had bench seats and could accommodate eight grandchildren besides ourselves if we put one in the middle front—seatbelts all around.
In the coming years she served us well. We never abused her other than expecting her to haul whatever we needed hauling. Over time her carpets began to look like linoleum, black and smooth. My husband had a bout of cancer and we determined that it was time to get out of the “dog-eat-dog” business world and settle for less income and a more meaningful life. We had five children each of whom had given us grandchildren and decided our happiness lay in family, not in monetary wealth (not that we had any).
After five children and a most upsetting divorce, our oldest daughter had moved to the Oregon coast. We had gone there every year since her birth and she had nothing but good memories there. So, with children and new husband off they went, bought a house, and settled in knowing her entire family would be there at least for two weeks each year. In about a year, and after my husband returned to school for yet another degree, we determined to make the old store attached to our daughter’s 100 year old beach house into a mother-in-law apartment. Now that my husband was teaching we could spend entire summers in that beautiful location WITH our grandchildren.
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