As we move through August into September and look back through the people who’ve passed. I knew I wanted to share my families thoughts on The People Behind Our Memories — Movies, Music, Television, Wrestling & the People Who Touched Our Lives
If you grew up in Texas like my family has then there is a huge change you’ve watched professional wrestling. Which means you probably understand something that people who didn’t grow up with it may never quite understand.
Wrestling wasn’t just something on television. Wrestling was an event, it was a conversation and wrestling was characters. It was good guys and bad guys. It was the Von Erichs. It was the Freebirds. Most people were either #TeamVonErichs or #TeamFreebirds. Good guys vs. bad guys.
Wrestling was names you remembered long after the match was over. And for me, wrestling is part of my history. When I learned Dory Funk Jr. had died on August 4, 2026, I knew he belonged in our collection of stories. He was 85.
Dory Funk Jr. was part of The Funk Family and he wasn’t simply a wrestler he came from a wrestling family. Just like the Von Erichs and the Freebirds. His father, Dory Funk Sr., was a wrestler and promoter, and his younger brother was another name wrestling fans know very well: Terry Funk. If you don’t believe me just ask Charlie. He can tell you all about the family.
Dory Jr. became one of the major champions of professional wrestling, including a lengthy reign as NWA World Heavyweight Champion. He later became a WWE Hall of Famer and spent much of his later career teaching and mentoring other wrestlers.
That last part is especially interesting to me. Because wrestling isn’t only about what happens inside the ring. It’s also about what one generation teaches another. Wrestling isn’t only a part of My history because I grew up watching wrestling it’s a part of David’s and Charlie’s as well. Is wrestling a part of your history?
My family knew the names and we knew the characters and we still do.
I knew the Von Erichs and I knew the Freebirds. I knew Michael Hayes and I knew Chris Adams. I knew so many of the wrestlers who came through Texas. And yes, I had my favorites.
I even had a little crush on Michael Hayes. That’s part of the story too. When you grow up with something, you don’t remember it like a history textbook. You remember where you were. Who you watched it with. Who you liked. Who you couldn’t stand. And what happened when your favorite wrestler walked into the ring.
Then wrestling became part of Charlie’s story and years later, wrestling didn’t disappear from my life. It came back through Charlie. Charlie became a huge wrestling fan from the time he was 2 up until he was 13/14 he ate drank and slept #wrestling. At times he still does.
Eddie Guerrero became his all-time favorite wrestler. He played wrestling video games. He learned wrestling trivia and he has been in a wrestling ring. He has taken wrestling classes and wrestling even became part of our homeschool creativity.
We designed wrestlers and we designed uniforms. We designed tattoos and symbols. We talked about characters and we created things. Sometimes we even incorporated praying hands, crosses and other symbols that reflected our family’s faith.
And that is something I think people sometimes miss when they hear the words “homeschool lesson.” Learning doesn’t always look like a workbook. Sometimes learning looks like a wrestling ring. When your #Homeschooling your students you can think outside the box and teach things your children are interested in and this is what I did with Charlie.
Charlie learned to create which how wrestling became art because we could design what a wrestler looked like.
We could think about colors and we could think about logos. We could create costumes and we could develop characters. We could write stories and we could even turn some of those ideas into hands-on projects.
Those are art lessons and those are storytelling lessons. Those are design lessons. And in our case, wrestling even helped lead Charlie into learn how to sew and design costumes in his Homeschool Home Economics Class.
That’s not something every kid grows up knowing how to do. But because we were always creating things around the wrestling world, it became part of our lesson plans that other children wanted to take. That is the kind of learning I want to remember and for others to share with there families.
Here is a question I would like to share with you. IIs Wrestling for Everyone? No. And that’s okay. Professional wrestling can be loud and at times it can be scary and it can be violent. It can contain storylines and language that aren’t appropriate for every child. Parents have to make those decisions for their own families.
But I also believe in teaching children about the world instead of pretending the world doesn’t exist. In our family, we talked about what we were watching. We asked questions and we explained things. We didn’t simply turn something on and walk away.
That doesn’t mean every family should make the same choices we did. It means we made the choices that worked for our family. And those choices became part of Charlie’s education and our family memories.
Dory Funk Jr. gives us another door Into Wrestling History and he gives us a reason to look backward. We can study the history of professional wrestling and we can look at the Funk family.
We can study the wrestling territories that shaped the sport and we can talk about Texas wrestling. We can compare wrestling from different generations and then we can ask Charlie about the wrestlers he knows today. That is how history works. One generation tells another stories from there past.
If your a wrestling fan like my family I wanted to let you know there is more Wrestling coming Dory Funk Jr. is only the beginning of our wrestling stories. Because wrestling has been part of my life for a very long time, and then it became part of Charlie’s life in a completely different way.
There are stories about the wrestlers I grew up watching and there are stories about the wrestlers Charlie loves. There are stories about Eddie Guerrero and there are stories about Texas wrestling.
There are stories about the wrestling community here at home. And yes, there are probably some stories that will make you laugh. So if wrestling was part of your childhood—or if your child has ever memorized more wrestling trivia than any grown-up in the room—come back and sit a while.
We have more stories to tell. Because sometimes remembering a wrestler isn’t really about the matches. It’s about remembering who you were when you watched them. And for me, wrestling is part of who I was, who I became, and eventually part of who I watched my own child become. That’s worth remembering.
Grateful, Thankful, Blessed.
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
