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Doug, or “Dudda,” wasn’t satisfied with life unless it was lively. Most of us saw that in his passion for hot cars, parties, and flirting. He seemed very much at ease with girls and they were at ease with him because he was big but gentle, witty but kind. From an adolescent boy’s view he was successful, as several classmates testify.
Jane Allen: When I first moved to Sea Cliff I was lucky enough to live on a street of somewhat level ground. I was able to ride a bike then, roller skate and play with Judy, Brud Niece, Dougie Andrews and others on the lawn of the old Sea Cliff Methodist Church. We also played ring-o-leave-e-o behind the public library on Sea Cliff Avenue. By the age of 11 I caught a few kisses behind the library from Brud and Doug Andrews.
Allen Schwartz: Then there’s love. I was pretty out of it. At a party at Doug Andrews’ house, There were Diana and Doug smooching heavily and I wondered, ‘What’s that all about?’
Sandy Gleichmann: Ed Neice and Doug Andrews were [my] boyfriends - they were among the gang that would get together for parties where spin the bottle and Post Office were played. Weren't we racey?
Where did many of us find life most lively—Glen Head’s bar, the Knotty Pine, and Doug signed my yearbook, “Please stay sober and I’ll see you in the Knotty Pine.” He did, but note the “stay sober” preceding the rendezvous. Maybe he had learned from suffering life with his alcoholic father that sober and good times were not a contradiction. Doug’s wife says he learned something else important at home. His mother often had foster children, babies and toddlers. “That’s how he got so good at child rearing. Doug is a pro when it comes to kids.”
Doug intended to enlist in the Navy after high school but had to give it up because of weak eyesight that disqualified him for all branches of the military. He enrolled in Spring Hill College, a small Jesuit school in Mobile, AL. Doug managed to get himself suspended from college for 6 months by staging a rousing toga party, but he returned to finish his studies. To pay expenses he worked in a pizza place and as a groundsman for the college. He also became a kind of body guard for a Jesuit professor who traveled through the region investigating Klan cross burnings.
Doug met his wife in the INA insurance company where he was working and they married in 1973 and honeymooned in Disney World. When they lived on Long Island they always kept a boat for fishing and sometimes tending lobster pots in the Sound. Both of them loved to party and travel, often spending weekends in Bermuda or Washington. His wife says, “Any time we had a buck we were on the road.” Doug worked for various insurance companies until he retired in 1997 after 26 years and he was able to join his family in their chosen home near Tampa, FL.
By the time his daughter Cyndy was born in 1978 Doug had given up both drinking and smoking, but not having a good time. Even after retirement he went to work in Disney’s reservation center and enjoyed the free entry into the parks and everything from the fast rides to the international exhibits. “One of my greatest joys of my Dad’s life,” Cyndy says, “was being near Disney. He was always kid at heart.” At the parks or at home Doug’s enjoyed entertainment and entertaining his family. So did his wife who says, “Cyndy has our sense of humor. Cyndy never had a chance. She is one of the funniest people I know. It’s a case of nature and nurturing.”
Cyndy says she has gleaned from bits of conversation that both her mom and dad were “wildcats” of a sort, but what counts most for Cyndy is that Doug was able to transform his rowdy liveliness into a gentle and secure liveliness. Cyndy says, “He was always both father and close friend. He was my Saturday morning buddy. We’d watch cartoons, and I’d get to go on all his errands with him.” That counts for her daughter Tracy who calls her beloved grandfather Lunca. Cyndy says, “We call him the Baby Man.” Cyndy and Tracy were living with her parents when the first symptoms of Alzheimer’s struck Doug almost ten years ago. It has made no headway against his sense of humor and his love of family or their love for him. Doug was well liked in the Class of ’57 but he was not among the senior superlatives, but he has obviously earned one of life’s most important superlatives. Cyndy calls him, “the best father in the whole cosmos.”
Douglas Andrews
1429 lakeshore Ranch Dr.
Seffner fl 33584
(813) 689-6072
Cyndy Andrews posted this tribute to her father on the Internet in May, 2005
The mountain of love
Most people say they have the best father in the whole world. Well ok, those of us that still use the term daddy or papa or even Lunca say we have the best daddy. Funny thing is that I actually do have the best father in the whole cosmos. The man is smart and funny and loving, supportive, kind, gentle, protective, everything I would want to be if I were a man but admirable qualities for any human if you ask me. He bought me my first bra and told my first boyfriend he would keep him in a box in the attic if he hurt me. Ya know normal daddy things. But I guess not, I talk to people about my parents and always hear about how lucky I am, how other parents aren't like this. Especially when it comes to my dad, I know that I lucked out that I was blessed that this man is "my daddy". He's in the hospital right now battling pneumonia. Trying to still be this man even through the cloud the Alzheimer has dropped over him. This blog is for Douglas Charles Andrews this most amazing man I have ever had the pleasure of knowing and loving. I hope that there are many more years to come but I sadly am a realist, so please for me anyone who reads this....call your parents today tell them how much they mean to you, how much you love them, cherish them.
Doug died in March 2010 and his daughter Cyndy posted the following information:
Deceased Classmate: Douglas Andrews
Date Deceased: 03-11-2010
Age at Death: 70
Cause of Death: Complications form Alzheimer
Classmate City: Lakeland
Classmate State: FL
Classmate Country: USA
Survived By: Wife- Paula Andrews Son- James Andrews Daughter- Cyndy Andrews Granddaughter- Tracy Andrews
He never stopped being the most wonderful man in the whole world. The only thing we wanted more of from you was time. We love you and miss you so much. Doug Andrews "Live BIG Die POOR!"
