Not long after I married my wife 30+ years ago, my father in law showed me the handful of recurves he had. You could tell they were not wall hangers, they had been used and they showed their age. I was very new to the traditional bow scene at the time but I knew enough to spot the '69 Bear Super Kodiak right away. I questioned him about it and found out he had bought it new and had hunted with it quite a bit back then. The bow had a dried up and cracked leather side plate the arrow rest was gone it had some athletic tape wrapped around it for some reason, it had seen its better days. Even though, he could tell I was mesmerized by it. Fast forward to about 10-12 years ago and I came up with the idea to have the bow sent out to be totally restored for Father's Day and his Birthday which are close to the same date. It was just piled up with a bunch of misc stuff in a basement storage room, I knew he wouldn't miss it, if I snuck it out. I managed to get it out of the house with my mother-in-laws help and sent it off to the BowDoc in Michigan. I got it back before Father's day and it was beautiful - he did a fantastic job. My father-in-law was thrilled and couldn't believe it was the same bow. Fast forward again to last weekend - my wife and I are invited over to the in-laws for lunch on Sunday after church. When we arrived I walked into the living room to great my father-in-law and I noticed he had the Super Kodiak out next to him. I commented something like " Oh you got out your Super Kodiak - Nice!" He said "You mean your Super Kodiak" Me - "no sir that is your bow" Him- "Yes it is my bow, which means I can do whatever I want with it, and I want you to have it - I am 81 years old and won't be using it, and I know you will appreciate it"
Instant lump in my throat - All I could do was give him a big hug and say Thank You!.
I told him his bow would be with me until I passed it down to my sons - it will stay in the family. It was an unexpected great day! Here are some pics of my special '69 Bear Super Kodiak.
Topic: Special Gift (Read 1788 times)
