If there is one thing about my Dad that everyone can be in agreement on, it’s that what you see is what you get. No fancy bells and whistles, no sugar coating, no pretending, and no holding back when it comes to his opinions on, well, let’s be real, anything. My brother and I will both say loud and proud that we’ve never known anyone like him… most people who know him will 100% agree!

Because my Dad is (yes, I am choosing to still use present tense, because past tense just doesn’t fly with me at the moment), the most straight forward and unapologetic person I know, I am going to make sure this announcement makes him proud, makes him laugh, and paints a picture of who he truly is. If I were to ask him right now, is this the kind of write up you’d want?
He’d reply with, “YOU KNOW HUGH?? HUGH is right!!”

He is the proudest republican you will ever meet. He is a Trump loving, concealed weapon carrying, horse and dog loving, conservative (to the extreme!) man and has never tried to prove himself to be anything else, even when others could be caught off guard by how blunt and outspoken he always is… especially through his Facebook posts! Good Lord, those posts could get out of hand, but he didn’t care and neither did I. I looked forward to go on a good political rant from my Dad, and even though my opinions don’t always match his, I love what he believes in anyway because he is always true to his heart.

His love for horses is something I have always had a huge respect for because I carry the same passion in my own life for dance. He knows so much about this animal and would probably choose to spend the weekend in a horse stall rather than at a 5 star hotel if given the option.

Hot sauce and jalapeño peppers are some of my earliest memories with him. He let me eat them straight off his fork when I was a little girl, maybe 4 or 5 years old. We have shared that taste for as long as I can remember, so even if you are a stranger reading this, whenever you see a bottle of Texas Pete or the hottest local hot sauce in your friendly neighborhood grocery store, have a laugh and buy a bottle… maybe don’t try it though unless you want your insides to catch fire.

Because I have to keep this short, which is absurd because how do you keep something like this brief and concise, I will address his love for family last. I am not about to list all of the surviving family and relatives because if you know my dad, you know exactly who we are and that is all that matters to him. You also know exactly who precedes him in death if you are close to our family, but I will announce one of those names because he respected her more than anyone on this planet, his mama, Shirley Bartholomew, who no doubt was the first to welcome him in to his new home. Family was truly the top of the pyramid for my dad. My brother and me, our spouses, his grandsons, his sister, his nieces, grandnieces, his dad, who is Richard Bartholomew for those who did not know and is the greatest man alive according to Rick, and our wonderful Nanny are everything to him. It was not long ago he added in another person to the top of the pyramid, his wife, Anya. Along with her came more family to add into our circle, and we got the greatest gift of all, a brand new little baby to hold and love. My dad and Anya’s son, Little Ben, is an absolute God-send to our entire family, and God definitely had a plan by giving him to us. Anya, Ben, Anya’s family, and George the bulldog made him the happiest he has ever been in his entire life. For that, I am so incredibly grateful. His last several years were exactly how he would have wanted them to be, and there is no sadness when it comes to that truth.

The Scoop sends our deepest sympathies to the Bartholomew Family.