Here at Savvy Auntie, we have our own forum in which to pay tribute to our Aunts, the ones who are with us, and those who are not: Aunthology. Today, though, I'd like to pay tribute to a very special Uncle.

My late Uncle Ray was truly a Savvy Uncle. I remember him as the perpetual kid at heart; his own somewhat unhappy childhood had inspired him to relive a better version of it in his adulthood. The things that made him happiest were movies, model trains and shiny new gadgets, and, most of all, his family.

Though Uncle Ray was my Uncle by marriage and had two children of his own, he always treated me and my sisters as though we were his daughters, too. He would teach us his favorite songs, take us on special outings and pick out special jewelry for our gifts. He just knew how to make an ordinary day a special one.

He put up with all kinds of niecely torture from me - as a kid, I thought it was funny to buff his poor bald head with whichever brush was handy, and he'd let me do it! I remember teasing him about the fact that he was an official member of the Girl Scouts of America. But that was really just more proof that he would do almost anything for his family members.

Uncle Ray was not the kind of person you'd ever forget - he was what is commonly known as "a character." I want to make sure that someday my little Goddaughter knows what a special person her Pap-Pap was.

I miss his smile, his laugh, his big heart - even his infamous puns and malapropisms - but most of all, I just miss him. Tomorrow would have been his 65th birthday, and I'll be thinking of him then, as I do every day.

Melanie Linn Gutowski, Savvy Auntie's Associate Editor, is a proud Godmother and ABC.

Published: August 24, 2010