We typically do not buy anything but a Ford. However, the Frontier is special because it was my brother Jimmy’s vehicle. Jimmy passed away in February 2023 because of Leukemia. Jimmy and I would have “brother-sister” days traveling around in the Frontier because he always wanted to do the driving. He was 18 years older than me, so he was the boss! We would go visit family and friends, have lunch, and go to an occasional family event, sometimes a funeral, a hospital visit, or the cemetery where our parents and our other family members are resting.
Jimmy was very particular with “his truck.” He did not want anyone to drive it, not even my sister-in-law. When he became ill, he asked me if William and I could help him get back and forth to his treatments in Nashville if he needed us. Of course, we said yes! He made the deal that we could go in his truck and take him, but of course, he said he would rather William do the driving. He trusted William because he knew William could just jump in anything and drive it with the experience he had driving from his job. He knew I preferred to drive my own vehicle if I were going to drive him, and like I said, he didn’t want anyone driving “his truck.”
We told my sister-in-law when she decided to let it go that we would definitely be interested. A few months later, when that time came, everything fell into place; it was meant to be. We had a Ranger at the time that a young man was able to buy from us for a first-time vehicle, so that worked out pretty quickly and well.
My brother had well maintained the vehicle, and it was immaculate; it only had 51,500 miles on it when we got it. It happens to be one of my favorite colors and has everything I like, especially the big backup camera. Most of all, I love the memories of the many family talks we shared while traveling around here and there. So now, sometimes I have a little chuckle when I get in to drive it, and I say, “Haha, Jimmy, look, Sis is driving your truck now.” I can just see him laughing back at that and I know he would be well pleased knowing that William and I adopted “his” truck. We still refer to it as “Jimmy’s truck.”
—Kathy Warlick
