This story boys and girls is about a wonderful man that had a heart of gold, a temper like a sailor, and would give the shirt off his back to anyone that needed it (even when he had nothing*).
Timothy Lee Joffrion was born into a family of ten children back in 1945.
They didn't live the high life nor did they have any money really, but that didn't stop this family. With ten children running around everyone had a job to do, whether it was looking after a sibling, cleaning the home, or getting jobs at a early age to help the family keep going.
Years go by and when Tim was eighteen he decided to join the United States Marine Corp.
Not before meeting Patricia his future wife that he would eventually have two kids with (but we will get to that later).
He was then sent into Vietnam as a Lance Corporal, to where a lot of his life would change from there on fourth.
Years go by still in the Vietnam War, Tim was sent into a cave with his other soldiers to draw out the opposing force, unfortunately what happened next they didn't see coming.
As they were entering the cave a bomb went off and completely depleted the oxygen from said cave. Some of his comrades died during this mission but Tim was one of the lucky ones that got out and was pulling out his own people. In the process of this he lost consciousness trying to pull his men out and also destroyed one of the arteries in his leg.
(Also being exposed to Agent Orange as well.)
He was then sent back to the states to San Diego to heal from the horrific situation that went down in the caves. When Tim returned home he received the Purple Heart medal for being injured in combat.
A year or two later after getting out the military Tim and Patricia had a daughter named Christina (my mother) and a year after that they had their son John.
During this time Tim became a cop for the city of Lufkin in the great state of Texas, but that wasn't the only city that he worked for either, he also worked in Texas City and Deer Park.
Growing up talking to him he had some pretty insane stories from when he was a cop. Whether it would be him talking about arresting the most craziest people or just some of the shenanigans that him and his fellow cops would get into.
This is also the same man that was handed a piece of paper and was told “You don't arrest or give anyone of these people tickets thats on this list”. On the list were political figures, higher up folks, and even the mayor of the town was apart of the list. When asked why his bosses reply was that they were above the law.
Tim did not feel this way at all, he believed no one was above the law even if they were public servants. So my favorite part of this story is that after he was handed the paper he made sure these people that did anything wrong when he was around he would write em up (sometimes i believe this is where i get my fuck you gene from when it comes to government and fighting for what's right).
Unfortunately he got away with this for a pretty good while until the police department forced him out. Luckily he didn't have the same problems with Deer Park and Texas City, but i'm pretty sure stuff like before happen there as well, just not when he was around.
He truly was one of the good ones when it came to police officers.
All in all Tim was a great man, i don't know if his past made him into what he was or he was just born that way but i'm glad that he was.
Growing up with him I always looked to him as a father figure, he taught me how to walk, taught me to treat my fellow man the same way i wanted to be treated, work ethic from staying with him all summer and so much more. I wouldn't be the man I am today without him, yeah we had our ups and downs but who doesn't?
So much stuff I love now came from him, hell he was even the first person i ever talked to about President Kennedy's assassination , which intrigued me more and more to look into conspiracies.
He unfortunately passed away in his 70s in October of twenty sixteen due to so many health problems (not to bad for a man that only had 40% of his heart working for 12 years)
I don't go one day without thinking about him, but I know he wouldn't want me mourning over him (he would probably tease me about it too), which i do and don't.
He's in a better place now and i can only hope i can be half the man that he was through his life. I am proud to call Timothy Lee Joffrion my grandfather and i hope he is happy wherever he is with my grandmother and all his Marine Corp buddies. Semper Fi papa you are always in our hearts.
Until next time,
"When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all." -Futurama