My father was a gentleman and a gentle man. He was born in a little farm town, his father a jack of all trades, his mother a stern but loving woman. In 1918, worn out after nursing, one after another, her five children and husband through the flu epidemic, she succumbed to the flu and died on Dec 23. My father never cared for Christmas after that.
He, his brother and oldest sister stayed with their father, while the two littlest sisters were adopted out to relatives. My father and grandfather 'batched' it until my dad went into the Army in WWII; he was 33, and everyone called him Pops. He served in the Pacific Theater, including the Philippines, where he was awarded the Bronze Star for helping rescue the wounded under enemy fire. While overseas, his father passed away.
Dad got a summer job with the Milwaukee Road after graduating a year early from high school. The "summer job" last 48 years, and when he retired as section foreman, he had the smallest crew (one other man) and the longest section (25 miles).
In 1951, he married my mother and her three kids. In 1953 my brother came along, and in 1955, me. My mom and dad were together for 42 years before he passed away from cancer. It started in his kidney and spread to his brain. It took less than a year.
I never saw my dad hurry and never heard him raise his voice but once - the day the tornado roared over our house. He came running around the corner of the house, yelling to get in the basement. I think that scared me more than the tornado.
He was the kind of man who did what he thought was right. When a dog attacked a woman walking down the street, it was my dad who chased the dog off and took the woman home. When my nephew got into a fight with some neighborhood kids, and they were ganging up on him, my dad stepped in - but not to stop the fight. My nephew had started it, so he had to finish it. My dad just made them fight fair.
He never treated his three stepchildren any differently from his own, and they all called him Dad, while calling their own father by his first name. If any of his kids needed help, he was there for them. He was Grandpa to 13.
He was my father, my best friend, my mentor, my champion, and I will say without embarrassment, my hero.
Thank you. I think it was a statement about him when, at his funeral, veterans' honor guards from 3 different towns showed up, and people I didn't even know sent cards, telling about things he had done for them. Very humbling.
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no subject
Date: 2009-05-23 05:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-23 06:16 pm (UTC)He, his brother and oldest sister stayed with their father, while the two littlest sisters were adopted out to relatives. My father and grandfather 'batched' it until my dad went into the Army in WWII; he was 33, and everyone called him Pops. He served in the Pacific Theater, including the Philippines, where he was awarded the Bronze Star for helping rescue the wounded under enemy fire. While overseas, his father passed away.
Dad got a summer job with the Milwaukee Road after graduating a year early from high school. The "summer job" last 48 years, and when he retired as section foreman, he had the smallest crew (one other man) and the longest section (25 miles).
In 1951, he married my mother and her three kids. In 1953 my brother came along, and in 1955, me. My mom and dad were together for 42 years before he passed away from cancer. It started in his kidney and spread to his brain. It took less than a year.
I never saw my dad hurry and never heard him raise his voice but once - the day the tornado roared over our house. He came running around the corner of the house, yelling to get in the basement. I think that scared me more than the tornado.
He was the kind of man who did what he thought was right. When a dog attacked a woman walking down the street, it was my dad who chased the dog off and took the woman home. When my nephew got into a fight with some neighborhood kids, and they were ganging up on him, my dad stepped in - but not to stop the fight. My nephew had started it, so he had to finish it. My dad just made them fight fair.
He never treated his three stepchildren any differently from his own, and they all called him Dad, while calling their own father by his first name. If any of his kids needed help, he was there for them. He was Grandpa to 13.
He was my father, my best friend, my mentor, my champion, and I will say without embarrassment, my hero.
no subject
Date: 2009-05-23 06:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-23 06:46 pm (UTC)He looks like he was a really handsome man. :-)
no subject
Date: 2009-05-23 06:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-25 01:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-25 02:03 am (UTC)