I have been blessed to know my Dad for 59 years -- that's all of my life so far. He was a good man, kindly to me, sincere in his affections, and always welcoming. We had our struggle when I was a teenager just like so many others, but fortunately, our mutual respect and affection for one another won out and we enjoyed a warm friendship until his death, November 17th, 2010. What I remember most about Dad is the peacefulness and calmness that would envelope a room when he appeared; his quickness to laugh over something funny someone would say; his alertness to every nuance of feeling and mood of others; his desire to be helpful in giving good advice and counsel; his faithfulness in working every single day, long, hard hours until his knees finally gave out and he had to have surgery. He loved music and enjoyed hearing all of sing. Dad was very inventive and creative too and would talk to us about things he thought up to make something work better; he invented a rivet spacer tool, a wheel that measured exact distance of each rivet to specifications for aircraft production. He invented it to save time in his assigned task. The company, Consolidated Aircraft, gave him a whopping $50.00 for the invention. The patent rights went to the company. (sigh-we could have been rich!). He would make lunch pails out of empty cereal boxes for our lunches - I'm sure all the kids at school were envious! He also enjoyed fishing -- Dad's first experience in catching a fish was at the Klamath River. There he was, shoulder to shoulder with like minded men, intent on only one thing - catching a fish! Dad was so excited when he finally hooked one, that as he was reeling in the fish, it charged him and in order not to lose the fish he started running backwards as quickly as he could, tromping through an open burning camp fire and finally beaching the fish - a 25+ lb salmon. Boy was he ever proud of that fish! Well, I'll write more about my Dad as I think of all the experiences I had with him.
