Page 13 - MARCH 2020 Barbecue News Magazine
P. 13

letter to the editor
“30 Smokin’ Years”
Comments
From Jeff Finger Family
Tallahassee FL resident but North Georgia born and raised 30 year fan of the Barbecue New Magazine
  Kell, Janet, Ms. Car- lene - ya'll are proba- bly headed back from Mississippi today, or maybe just scooting on over to Texas, but I wanted to comment on your "30 Smokin' Years" edition.
The very first article I wrote that was fea- tured in the National Barbecue News was a story about my Dad's cancer battle and how a trip to judge Memphis in May helped him fight the fight, keep the faith and live life.
As ya'll know, over the years, I would contribute more articles, most all of them on what I would call the family values of BBQ.
Seeing the different pull-out
clips this past issue from over
the years, like Barbecuin' with
Clif, brought back tons of mem-
ories. As you convey in your
publisher comments, what
started as small family affinity with BBQ grew into a huge "family" tree with common roots all across.
We've had the honor of sharing alot of good times with the BBQ family folks such as yourself and many-many more. Clif, for example, in his column, wrote a very nice piece on my Dad after his passing.
And in fact, we still have Clif's old Florida BBQ-JDG vanity tag hanging in "GW's Q Shak" outback at Mom's - or as the kids call her, MeMaw's. (see attached photos - 30+ years of memories line those walls)
As you may recall, my Dad passed away in 2004. Our son Sloan wasn't born until the following year, and our daughter Thea a few years after that. They never had an opportu- nity to know their "Big
Daddy."
So to see the National BBQ News cover with my son Sloan - the grandson of the subject of my first BBQ News article many years ago, "Big Daddy" George Finger - winning a trophy for his "Elusive Meat" speech fea- tured in your collage of clips from the past 30 years was, well, emotional.
O' how proud my Dad would be. And then, if he could, watch his granddaughter smoke her
first ribs (see attached photo) on an Acorn PartyQ set-up thanks to the wonderful help of BBQ Guru's LisaJo, he'd tell you, with our BBQ family, even after 30 years, the circle will be unbroken. Thank you all!
Jeff Finger
 MARCH 2020
BarbecueNews.com - 13










































































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