Al Eugene Miyagi

How many people in our lives do we consider friends and family yet for many of them we hardly know them at all? Some live far away. And some we’re just not very close with. But most of all, life’s simply too vast and too short to experience with everyone we know.

My aunt’s brother in-law recently passed away. I had known him since I was a kid. He and his wife would send Christmas gifts every year yet I rarely saw him and hardly knew him. I knew he liked hot rods and bikes but nothing much beyond that. I attended his funeral to pay my respects and I gained so much more.

Al Eugene Miyagi was born on November 26th, 1950 in Chicago, IL. He and his family moved to Azuza, CA in 1957 where he made California his home for most of his life. Al worked at various markets and a gas station before finding his niche as a construction plumber. He was a blue-collar guy who prided himself on being a man’s man. He shared John Wayne’s cowboy spirit and was fond of saying: “A man’s got to have a code, a creed to live by…” But as he got older, that tough guy exterior was hard to maintain with a growing family. Although Al and his wife, Mury, had no kids of their own, he had a handful of nieces who he adored. They described him as being “as soft as a marshmallow” and I understood how very much they meant to him.

Sitting there at his memorial service, I couldn’t help but think about how much this man embodied my brand. He had always supported Pride & Joy, but before his service, I thought that was simply because he loved cars and for myself. And after the service, I realized he embodied the brand at its true core: he possessed that rugged spirit of American Individualism that is so unique to our nation’s culture. And he had a deep love for his family, who were his true Pride & Joy. Perhaps he had a better understanding of the brand than I gave him credit for.

Al Eugene Miyagi passed away on April 5th, 2018. Over the course of his life, he had a 1964 Ford Falcon, a 2008 Harley Road King Classic, and a 1970 El Camino. He leaves his wife Mury, brothers Mike and Jim, sisters Patti and Karen, a handful of nieces, and many more family and friends with fond and joyful memories.

Rest in peace.