Birth date: Apr 21, 1952 Death date: May 8, 2018
Andrew (Andy) Paul Isbister Sr., 66, of New Port Richey, passed away Tuesday, May 8, 2018. He is survived by his son and namesake Andrew Isbister, Jr.,(AJ) his daughter Kelly Isbister-Clements, his grandchildren Luke and Baylee C Read Obituary
More memories:
Kelly, AJ, Luke & Bailey know Andy as the practical joker - the one that always gets the one up. Back in the day - he was more often than not the brunt of the joke. My father tortured him! In a fun way. That is where he learned what he did. I not only had to endure my Dads practical jokes - I later had to endure the wrath from Andy too. He had learned from the best.
There was the time around 1989 - that Andy decided to take a trip to CT on his Harley. Well, he barely made the trip before the bike expired. He spent his visit with his bike scattered all over the garage - and traveling to various Harley shops looking for parts to repair his bike. I think my mom called him a “jackass’ then too. That was her other nickname for him. Andy had brought my 2 year old son a Harley T-shirt. We taught him to point to it and say “broken motorcycle”. I thought Andy should have a photo book of his visit- so I retraced Andy’s steps to document his vacation in CT that week and compiled a photo album of his memories. He did get a laugh out of this photo book - and even though it was poking fun at him - I know he loved this book.
Unfortunately I lost both of my parents in 2004. When Andy came for my Dads funeral in April - he was freezing cold even though the weather was around 60 degrees. - I asked him what happened? - he had endured so many freezing snowmobile trips and had lived in St. Albans, VT. My Mom called him a “candy ass”. The Florida temps had thinned his blood he no longer liked the cold. Just a couple months later - I lost my Mom. My Mom had 2 large dogs - Sassy a black lab & Lucky a German shepherd. I could not keep both dogs- I tried to find a home for Lucky but I was unable to. Andy & Aj drove from Florida to CT just in time to say goodbye to my Mom and to take her dog Lucky back to Florida. He had to re-home his own dog because the 2 dogs did not get along. Lucky ate thru the bedroom door. Lucky was actually the dog from hell. My Dad once told Andy that Lucky loved him and he should take her home. Andy swears it was my Dad’s way of getting back at him from above. He would chuckle about it every time he complained about Lucky. He gave her a good home where she lived out the last years of her life. I so appreciate what he did for her but he really did it for me & my Mom. Later that Fall I went to Florida to visit. Andy took me to Sea World - that I enjoyed like a child. We visited Johns Pass which to this day is one of my favorite places to visit in Florida. My Grandfather & my parents were diehard Red Sox fans. Don’t you know that fall the Red Sox won the world series for the 1st time in about 90 years. I remember being with Andy when this happened - I cried because my parents didn’t see it. He reassured that they saw it - with the best seats from above.
I loved his sarcastic emails or phone calls when we had bad weather in New England. I looked forward to them. The last batch of hurricanes that Florida was expecting last year - I called him and said “New England weather isn’t looking too bad right now”. He laughed and said he would rather ride out a hurricane than to endure the cold or shovel snow.
So many more - I could go on forever.
RIP- Andy - ride-ride-ride that Harley free forever. Thank you for everything - I love you and I will miss you.
Share a memory - almost impossible to share “A” memory - when there are so many!! Here are a few.
Andy was my uncle but basically more of a big brother to me. There were fewer years between he & I than there were between him & my Dad. He was at my house all of the time as a kid. He worked with my Dad at “Eddies American” gas station. He was even part of the extended family on my Moms side. He went to Maine with us every Winter to go snowmobiling. He was there every Sunday for our family baseball games. Every Friday for the guys played poker until the wee hours of the morning. I remember waking up because there was so much laughter coming from the kitchen. There were the ice cream runs in the bed of my Dads red Dodge pick-up truck. I remember my mom calling the school - pretending to be his mother to excuse him from class that day. I think he skipped more than he attended. I just remember him always there. I remember that laugh - that infectious laugh. He was my Dads brother but my mom affectionately referred to him as “Little Brother”. She loved him very much. But when she was upset with him it was a stern “Andrew Paul” - and he knew he was in trouble. He loved, feared and respected my mom very much.
I remember his green Chevelle (maybe a 1967?) that was all hopped up and he was so proud of - and then when he showed up with his chopper with the handle bars over his head and the wheel way out front and my Mom told him he looked like a jackass and scolded him for such a purchase. He didn’t come over much with the chopper because my mom kept threatening to flatten his tires - and she meant it.
I remember the red Rupp snowmobiles and then the mercury snowmobiles and many others after that. If Dad had an idea -Andy had the same idea. Things were bought in pairs. One year 1 of the snowmobiles broke down and we were getting snow. During the blizzard of 1978 - when the governor had shut the state of CT down - Andy & my Dad drove thru a dangerous blizzard to purchase another snowmobile. It was Andy that drove it off of the back of the truck into the massive snowbank smiling like a child - so that we would now be able to enjoy the newly fallen snow. There were nights that we were out on these machines until we no longer had feeling in our hands or feet. We were painfully cold - but we all kept going because it was so much fun. My Dad & Andy would come home with empty whisky sour cans on the running boards of the machines - they would tell us that they were cleaning up the trails because people were littering. They would finally come in after hours out in the cold - I can still hear the laughter and Andy complaining that my Dad was always trying to push him off of the paths & trying to hurt him. I can hear Andy now- “I told you someone was going to get hurt!” - it was usually Andy.
Andy, Mary & Kelly lived with us for a short time when I was 17 and Kelly was 2. At this time when I was dating a Vegetarian. Andy & my Dad thought it would be cute to teach Kelly to call him Rabbit. Well, my date walked into the house and you hear Kelly say “hey Wabbit!” And they handed him a head of lettuce. This was my life. But I wouldn’t have changed a minute of it.
Andy taught me to drive standard shift in his 1979 black TransAm. I remember bucking the car thru the streets of Springfield, MA and Andy had his helmet on - yelling for help thru the open windows. I bucked and stalled but I finally mastered it enough to purchase my 1980 Camaro Z-28 (standard shift). My 1st solo vacation without my parents was to visit Andy in St. Albans, VT in my standard shift car.
Andy was much younger & nothing like his 2 sisters or his brother. The only thing in common he had with his own Dad was he liked to shoot pool. Both Andy & my Dad were always disappointed that they could never beat their Dad at pool. He was definitely the rebel of the family - and ironically he named his 1st dog -Rebel.
In my life I have met few men who had the great character of your Dad. He was always there to help. No task or favor was ever to daunting for him to take on. He always said "YES." Indeed, he was a man of GREAT CHARACTER.What drew me to your Dad was a whole bunch of great character attributes. Among those was his absolute reliability, his honesty, his tremendous work ethic, his "old school" moral compass, and his devotion and love for you and your sister.
CRAIG VAN PELT
