John J. Bahlman

September 24, 1926 — June 15, 2014

Bahlman, John J. John "Jack" Bahlman passed away on June 15, 2014. He was a WWII Submarine Veteran and worked at Sandia National Lab for 40 years. A Memorial Service will be held on June 26, 2014 at 3PM, Daniels Family Funeral Services-Carlisle Chapel, 3113 Carlisle Blvd NE, Albuquerque, NM. In lieu of flower, Jack requested donations sent to Animal Humane of New Mexico.

LETTER FROM BEGEE I THINK:

Letter to Tom
Tom,
    Seeing your web page stimulated a lot of old memories so I thought I’d do a memory dump of events as I remember them at the few times in our youths when we were together.  First I have to apologize because I never could tell you and Steve apart so my memories don’t differentiate between the two of you. Also I was glad to see that you are keeping a chronical, more or less, of Grandpa Hascall’s life and am more than happy to contribute whatever I can.  I have in my possession his Parker Brother’s double barreled shotgun, his Colt Model 1911 .45 ACP and also his Heddon split bamboo fly rod.  I have attached pictures of each although I only have a cheap Kodak snapshot camera ( a modern day version of the old Brownie camera) so the pictures are not high quality.  I don’t know much about the shotgun other than it was well used.  When I was in high school I took it quail hunting a few times and discovered the safety mechanism was worn out and unreliable.  Since my father died and I got possession I have taken it to a gunsmith and had it repaired.  The story I got on the Colt .45 ACP was that it belonged to Grandpa’s brother who was killed in France (during, after?) WWI and that the gun was in his personal effects which were shipped home.  It was in bad shape when I got it and I had to replace the barrel and several internal parts to make it functional, but now it shoots well and is surprisingly accurate.  The Heddon rod I got when Grandpa died and I caught a lot of trout with it when I was in high school but havent’ used it much since.  I also got a split bamboo rod which belonged to my mother when she was young which I used some until I broke the tip trying to retrieve a fly I snagged on a bush.  After that I didn’t want to risk Grandpa’s pole and pretty much stopped using it.
    So, now for the memory dump.  The first thing has to do with some of the movies you have posted – or not.   I remember seeing one of your Dad’s home movies where he caught a ‘possum and  put it in the backyard with your two dachshunds.  The dogs would chase the ‘possum and when they got close the ‘possum would – well, play ‘possum. The dogs would prod it for a while and lose interest and walk away whereupon the ‘possum would get up and run away, causing the dogs to give chase, and repeat the sequence ad infinitum.  It was very amusing.  I haven’t watched all the films you posted but wondered if this was one of them.
    I remember one time one of you took me to a nearby irrigation canal to throw dirt clods at wasps but the other wouldn’t go because he was allergic to the stings.
    I remember when we were pretty young, going with your Dad somewhere to kick over rocks and look for scorpions.  Every time we found something under a rock, your Dad would say “ Oh look, there is a Centruroides sculpturatus, better leave that one alone kids” or “OH look, Solifugae Eremobatidae, no, don’t pick it up.”
    Once we were in the backyard by the pool and someone looked up and there were 2 or 3 vultures circling around.  Someone went into the house and got a bottle of ketchup and we went out in the field and lay down and poured ketchup on ourselves to try to lure the vultures down.
    When I was a teen I hated wearing glasses and was not yet blind enough to absolutely need them so I usually carried them in my shirt pocket.  One night when we were visiting, one of you guys wanted to impress some girl so after dark we TP’d her house.  Well, I lost my glasses while performing the dirty deed and her parents found them.  So I had to clean up all the toilet paper in order to get my glasses back. 
    I remember one of you guys was “Spiderman” before Spiderman was cool.
    I remember my first experience with candy rocks was with you guys.  I knew you guys were crazy but I didn’t think you crazy enough to actually swallow a rock.
    I remember, and I won’t tell anyone if you don’t, but I remember the three of us meeting a girl in a park one night.  One of you knew her and we all chipped in and found a gas station where the rest room had a condom vending machine and bought a condom(s)? for the one who knew the girl.  Two of us went home and one went with the girl and I never got an after action report.
    I remember that picture in front of the palm tree because your Dad had shredded his hand on the palm frond thorns trimming the tree that day.
    I remember your Dad colluding with one of you and then turning out the lights and telling us the story of the irrigation ditch monster and at the climax of the story, one of you jumped out the closet where he was hiding and shouted and scared the hell out of all of us.
    I remember when you came to visit us in that van with the big sign in the window that said “Warning Radio Active.”  Your Dad drove straight through I guess because he was hot and tired when you got there and he laid down and pulled his T-shirt up to cool off and stretched his arms over his head.  And I turned to one of you and whispered “Wouldn’t it be funny if someone smacked your Dad on the stomach right now?”  And guess what.  Whichever of you got the message went straight into action and you know what – it was funny – for the 10 seconds before retribution descended on us.