Guestbook

Hi Pomper.

For some reason I have been thinking about you a lot today. Dad happened to be visiting me in DC during your birthday, and in your honor we went to the National Building Museum where you once took Mom when you were visiting her here. It was nice to walk around in a place that was special to you.

That was a few weeks ago now. I really miss you.

I got glasses the other day for the first time ever, and I wish you were here to joke about how they look.

I like thinking about things like that, what your reaction would be to small pieces of news or small changes in the lives of people you love. It makes me sad to think about that but it also makes me feel comforted and closer to you, and helps me remember you and your wonderful love.

Okay. Talk soon.

Love,
GNat

It is difficult to express how much Mickey Thielen will be missed by myself, Lisa, and my family.

I owe so much to him and Cynthia. As hanai parents to me and so many others, they have taught us life lessons that made us the people we are today. They have had a great impact on forming my "moral fibers" that could have gone astray without their love and aloha. Mick's dry and sarcastic sense of humor was more than just funny, it was character building as well. Tough love has a place in this world and Mickey's deprecating jokes illustrated that for me. I would not have been able to thrive without the tough skin that Mickey endowed me with.

The generosity and compassion that Mick did show was a living illustration of how I wanted to live my life.

His greatest legacy is the vast number of successful people who are his circle of family, friends, and associates. It is not an accident that so many people who knew Mick are successful. In some part, we are all successful because we knew Mickey.

Mickey, you will be missed and this one is for you. -Alex

Mickey,
I sure do miss you in that chair, and harassing you, when I come over and you go straight for your chair because I always joke and tell you, what are you doing out of your chair. lol. miss our conversations , Our laughs, jokes, and you always joking to me and telling me about my Clorox habit, uggh I need Clorox anonymous. it still feels like your gonna walk in the door on Thursdays when I'm there, and you are just on a Costco run. And always when I finish the bathroom floor and tell you its wet, and you say ok your going to go on it and fall and sue me, and we laugh cause I say ok then you can have my beat up car. miss when I come in the door on Thursdays and you have your big smile and you quietly ask me to clean another hidden coffee spill on carpet and save you from getting busted again lol , I think you had more coffee on the carpet then you drank ,lol. you know I had your back on that. I also appreciate that you appreciated the work I did. and the smiles you always had when I would take honey out for you, because she wouldn't budge for you. I will always remember everytime I would leave and say good bye, be good and stay out of trouble. and you would smile and say do I have to, lol. I also will remember one of our few last conversations. you said. Donna, I want to thank you for everything you do. I appreciate that. I'm glad I got to say to you that last Thursday I saw you, I love you. I am blessed to of know you. Thank you. missing you on Mickey days.

i keep forgetting that i never actually met natalie's pomper. i have these very lifelike images that almost feel like firsthand memories - pomper carefully* playing with the grandchildren; pomper sitting sun-baked on a porch, watching the froth of waves and wind-rippled vegetation; pomper doting on his wife; pomper mischievously telling cringe-y, so-bad-that-they're-good jokes; pomper tolerantly calling his daughter to report each of natalie's habitual childhood unplanned, unshared-with-her-parents-beforehand visits to his house.

*by careful, i don't mean gingerly. i mean "full of care." not many adults take children seriously. from what i've heard, pomper was sincere with them, he didn't condescend or dismiss, he deliberately gave children his full attention and made sure that they knew just how important they were. he respected their imaginations, games, and personhood with great care and that speaks volumes.

it sounds silly but his family has done such a tremendous job letting me (and others) get to know him, both before and after his death - not only through the stories constantly told about him, but by who his family is. the unsaid almost says more than the said, meaning that his influence shows even more potently in their actions.

the strength of his extended family, their unparalleled love, their warmth, their loyalty, their responsibility, their willingness to work together, the unadulterated joy that they take in each other's accomplishments (both tangible and less tangible, like the accomplishment of being a good person) - all this evolved from pomper, all this was learned from pomper. people unlucky enough to have never met him can still know pomper just by virtue of knowing natalie, her sister, their parents, and her grandmother. so he is here, still, in their choices and character, in the undeniable form of his family's demonstrations of the values and priorities that he imbued in them.

this is how he lives on, this is how you'll continue to bring him back to life: you'll write about him, talk about him, mimic how he moved through life with generosity and humor and solidarity and patience, be the pompers and pompresses to your grandkids that he showed you how to be, love everyone as unconditionally and courageously as he did. he's still alive. it's not the same, i know, but he is, a little, in these subtle ways. you hold the power to keep him in your hearts - and what big, big hearts you have for him to live in. what a lovely place for him to call home now.

Grandpa, It's hard to not focus on the void left by your passing. Instead I try to remember the greatest gift you shared with me and the rest of the family- your time. Death is a destination we all share and therefor the most precious and valuable thing we have as individuals is time. I'm grateful not only for the generous amount of time you shared with me, but for the invaluable and profound way it has affected who I am. I always admired many of the qualities you embodied- your wit, humor, fierce intelligence, your high tolerance of alcohol; but most of all your principles and values that made you such a great man. I love you Grandpa. It's selfish but as I sit here, crying, writing this, I cant but wish for one more evening poolside with you; one more La Mariana lunch. Conversations with you were always thought-provoking and punctuated frequently with laughter. Thanks for everything

Although I never met you, I am sad at your transition. What a lovely wife and family that you have left to share. Aloha.

Dear Pomper, it's so hard to write to you knowing that you're gone. I'm sorry it's taken me this long to write something here. I'm sorry I can't yet write something longer, something more beautiful, like what you deserve. For now all I can say is thank you -- for the love and support and teasing and tickling and advice and waffles and smoothies and ice cream and everything. I love you so much. I will always, always, always carry you in my heart.

Being a friend of Greg's since first grade has allowed me the privilege of having Mickey harass me for most of my life. I would not have wanted it any other way! He had served in the Army as a young man and always asked how I was doing with my Army career. Then he would wonder aloud how they ever made the mistake of taking me. Also, since Greg and I got into our share of trouble over the years he was sure the bring up some uncomfortable memory (wicker wastebaskets anyone?). When we were much younger I remember him dressing up in the Mickey Mouse costume for the Lanikai parade every year and taking us all to Maui for Greg's eighteenth birthday. That was a brave move for Cynthia and Mickey both but they paid us off well and we only got into a little trouble (pressed ham!). We will miss you Mickey but the memories will live on. Much Aloha Cynthia, my brother Greg and the rest of the Thielen Ohana.

I have so many memories of you all. Mickey was so much fun, and we could tell great stories all day long. I wonder what he and Dick Jordan are up to now.
Love from all the Jordan's...Janet...

Being friends with Greg for the last 30 years allowed me the privilege to interact with Mick and the rest of the Thielen family.
In 1991, I became an Eagle Scout and we got to celebrate afterwards at the Money Pit. Every time I ever saw him after that, he would predictably question how I was ever able to pull the wool over so many peoples' eyes to earn it. I will miss seeing him at the many Thielen parties (at least for the first half hour) to receive my share of harassment.
His sharp wit and sarcastic humor will be sorely missed, but rest assured, it will live forever in his children and grandchildren.
My only regret is that he won't get to see the Rams play again in L.A., and that I won't get to hassle him anymore about being a fan...
The Sattler family passes on their sincerest condolences and our thoughts are with Cynthia and everyone else at this tough time.

A great loss to a great family, and also to all of us. Our best wishes for all who remain. Winter's poem brought tears.

Bob

Cleaning out your desk today and I found a gift I gave you decades ago. It was a little electronic noise maker you mounted on your dash board with buttons labeled death ray and laser beams. I clearly remember you using it in your last BMW coupe before the X5. It was a cheap little toy that had clearly broke many years ago. There were so few things you hung on to, I'm not sure why this was one of them, but it made me smile and cry. I've been doing that a lot recently. Miss you and love you dad.