Herbert Payne

RIP Herb Payne
Feb 12, 1953 - May 17, 2021

We found my dad at peace in his retirement home in Houston, TX this past Monday afternoon, May 17, 2021.

He had old school, traditional values of duty, honor, loyalty. My whole life I can say I never saw him lie to people, he didn't cheat people, and he never gave half an effort if someone needed him.
He was a man you could trust and rely on. If he gave you his word, he would keep it. He was really proud of that and tried to be as dutiful a person as anyone could be.

He loved sports and all the challenges of training and competition. Tennis was his favorite sport by far.
Tennis had the perfect mix of skill and strategy that he really enjoyed. He valued and shared with us kids the art of being a sportsman/sportswoman.
He would take his family to tournaments where we would stay and watch the pros practice and warm up for their matches.
At home we would watch videos how the pros practiced and trained and he would analyze everything they did for us.

I truly believe had he been introduced to tennis as a kid, he would have been a touring pro. He had the kind of obsession, work ethic, and athletic ability that really only the top college players and professional athletes display.

Off the court, he just loved working. He was an engineer that became a project manager. He loved what he did at his job and he made a lot of friends along the way.
He worked hard his whole life at everything he did. It was truly hard to get my dad to take a full day off work and go on vacation. When he died, he was 2 months from his retirement date with at least that many days of PTO he had never taken.

My dad had everything planned out for his retirement down to the last $$. He had all the shoes he would wear in his closet, the tennis racquets he would use, and things he was going to do planned.
All his planning was two months away.

He spent his last few days with my family in Houston. The night before he died, he built a racetrack with my daughter and sent toy race cars flying down the track, where the cat was eagerly waiting to pounce on them.

After my daughter went to bed, he stayed up sharing stories in my kitchen of a trip he had taken to see his friend where he got stopped on an unexpected layover in New York City in the late 70's... before Rudy Guiliani had cleaned it up... He was told not to talk to anybody with his TX accent because he would surely get robbed on 42nd street...
That was the same night the Blues Brothers played their first concert and he was standing outside the box office as the people waited in line to get in.
He made it from the bus station to Times square without getting robbed, but he did manage to get offered hashish and a date by a guy, which he turned down both!

I'm sure my dad had so many more stories to tell. He had waited for his retirement to do so many things.

Next to his body, in the cup holder on the couch where he died, there was a fortune cookie fortune. It said "Do not put off until tomorrow what can be enjoyed today."
My dad would have said, "I'll work really hard today so I can enjoy tomorrow."
More than anything, I think my dad's life has taught me that life needs to have a balance.

I got to know my dad really well the past few years as an adult. I was really looking forward to spending time with him in TX when he retired. Our family really loved him and he is sorely missed.

My dad died at rest, peacefully sitting in his chair. There was no sign of discomfort, or struggle.
These past few days have been very hard, but I know he is at peace and he is in spirit in God's Kingdom. We still love him very much.

- Jacque'