Not only that, he's largely the inspiration for my charming personality.
My Dad and Mom had 7 children. When we were all very young, he had two jobs. He worked day shift a steel plant, then went to work in the evenings at a cheap motel downtown as a night manager. He got about 5 hours a sleep per night for several years. We kids lacked for nothing.
I have to leave this thread for now, my screen is getting too blurry and I really have to go do some stuff that I’m already avoiding.
But I want to say my dad was the best, a man of great faith who suffered without complaining, truly knew how to hate the sin but love the sinner, served in the Pacific in WWII, raised 3 children, put up with our mother and was a very good looking and charming man too.
I miss him every single day.
He was a good provider of shelter and sustenance, and some luxuries.
He “loved” me insofar as he defined the term.
My dad served our beautiful country for 25 years in the Navy and Air Force during WW II, Korean and Vietnam Nam wars. He was the most humble, honest human being I have ever known. He did many things quietly for people in need. He loved our Awesomw God!
My Dad passed in 1996, age 78 and I still miss him everyday.
Most of all he taught me to depend on common sense. To think with precision, consider all ideas, thoughts, etc.
When hammering a nail he said, “It’s the hammer that’s hitting the nail, not you. Let your arm and hand be just an extension of the hammer.”
When sawing a piece of lumber he said, “Don’t press down on the saw. That’s a good way to saw a crooked line. Just draw thew saw back and forth. It will saw straight by itself. Let the weight of the saw do the cutting.”
In other words, let the tool do the work. You just provide the horsepower.
I’ve remembered these sayings all my life. True then, true now.
My Dad was a fairly taciturn man from Missouri who never tired of being shown how. One of his favorite sayings, instead of “It’s all yours,” was “It’s all urine.” Then. he’d just grin.
My dad was a great guy and a hero. He was a bus driver in the thirties and forties and refused to enforce Jim Crow in the south. He was the manager of the Houston Bus terminal in the 50s and integrated it way before the Civil Rights Act. His company (Greyhound) had to put him on unpaid leave unless he would move north. My brother was a junior in HS so we waited a year until he graduated. I don’t know what we lived on. I remember when I was in college and my dad was giving me some advice and I told him off and asked him what he had accomplished. I still cry when I think of that. He cried when I graduated with my advanced degree, the third of his three children to do so. He had not been able to go to college since he came of age as the depression hit and his parents lost their farm. He went to work, driving that bus. Thank you Dad. He’s with my mother now in heaven. I just assigned him the job of watching out for my daughter in laws brother who died at 17. One of my brother’s, the one who we stayed in Houston for, has passed and is there too. I miss them all a lot.
My dad was a WWII vet. He had 6 sons and 2 daughters. Of his 8 children, he left all his worldly possessions to me. Not to spite anyone, but because he knew I was the most mature and the most trustworthy. I have the flag that draped his casket at his funeral and all the pics he took during the War. I also have a hand written note from him saying why he wanted me to have these things. :-)
He left me with some pretty choice aphorisms.
On worrying about something before you can do anything about it: “We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”
On there frequently being more than one solution to a problem: “There’s more than one way to skin a cat.”
On cheapskates: “He’ll squeeze a nickel ‘til the buffalo poops.” (He didn’t say “poops” btw.)
He tried his best to teach me how to make a straight cut. I learned pretty well, but even with all the jigs and guides I can come up with, they are still never as straight as his were.
Not only that, he's largely the inspiration for my charming personality.
My dad was a great dad, in spite of many tribulations in life, including that his own parents had died while he was an adolescent, and he married very young. He stuck by his family with great loyalty and tenacity, even though neither he nor our mom was demonstratively affectionate. He taught us right from wrong and up from down and that was that — no waffling. He respected people as he found them, but like others in this thread, Democrats and Communists earned his private contempt.
Dad brought us up from the working class to the upper middle class through hard work and willingness to continuously learn and improve. He lived his life as an example of a dutiful, kind, sportsmanlike, friendly and righteous Christian man, always keeping us on the right track—so much so that when he died and the pastor came to ask us what we wanted said at Dad’s funeral, Pastor ended up expressing envy at our outpouring of gratitude for the way Dad was. He wondered whether his kids would be able to honor him in such a way when his time came.
Before Dad died, he had cancer for a couple of years. During that time, he started praying with us and expressing love and affection most generously. How I wish I had saved some of the answering machine messages, such as when he sang me the Stevie Wonder song, “I just called to say I love you.”
I love you, too, Daddy.
My Dad helped other people all his life .
He never met a stranger, as a matter of fact, wherever we went, no matter how far from home, he would run into a friend or acquaintance.
At 5 years old he told me "if the bully is bigger than you then its all right to pick up a stick"....(I did)
My Dad taught me how to fish, hunt, fix cars, build homes and furniture, and to see the beauty of nature and to be a God fearing Christian. He also taught me how to love one woman for life and make a marriage work even through hard times.
My Dad was a hard worker. Still is, he gardens every day ... from a wheelchair. He does not believe in being idle, one must be busy and have a purpose at all times, and he instilled that in his children.
My Dad is very generous, to a fault sometimes. One of his famous quips is “long as I’ve got a biscuit, hon, you’ve got half”.
Professor Emeritus of Education at Valdosta State University. Has a brick on the Retirement Walkway there.
Lost him in 1986, way too early.
It was all secretive, he could not tell my mother where he was going, and all their letters were censored; no postage as he had a franking privilege as I think all servicemen then did. Later it became clear where he was.
He did so many good things for my mother, me and my sister, it would take pages to tell about all of it.
He taught me how to drive in a manual transmission car with the stick shift. I drive a 24 year old Honda Civic five speed to this day. He taught me a little secret about parallel parking. When I was done with my driving test at age 16, the instructor told me to pull over to the curb which I did. He asked, "Who taught you how to drive?" "My father." "Well, he did an excellent job." The schools didn't have drivers' ed yet.
After his military service he worked for the Corps of Engineers and projects up and down the Mississippi in his district. His last big project was Chief Design Engineer of the Red Rock Dam and resevoir near Pella, Iowa. Now I see they have broken ground for a hydroelectric plant.
I said a little prayer of thanksgiving and for his soul today. I also wished Our Heavenly Father a happy Father's Day today :-). My father died in 1982 at the age of 72. I think he would be astonished and greatly saddened by the path our country has taken politically, socially and economically.
I notice that among us conservatives, the fathers have many of the same characteristics. A lot of the comments others have posted could have been said about my dad, and I suspect the reverse is also true.
No wonder we are the way we are, and liberals are the way they are, God help them. Especially the fatherless ones, or the children of mom and a parade of boyfriends.
Read and learn, liberals.
My father served in WWII, Korea, Vietnam and every little clean up mission they sent the Marines on in between. Two things he hated most in life were welfare and conscientious objectors. He was the only person I ever met who was more conservative than me. I miss him but I’m glad he’s not around to see what’s happened to the service since he passed.
My dad was the hardest working man I ever knew. He didn’t believe one had to go to college to earn a good living. His goal was to leave each of his children a million dollars. He did that and used up his health and good years doing so. My mom and dad never traveled or took vacations. Their main luxury was a nice ranch with a cabin and small lake he dug himself that we could make memories at and we still do. I thought he would be found dead on his dozed someday but Dad is still with us, - bedridden with Parkinson’s now. I’ve been cooking all morning to take him and Mom supper so am going shortly to visit. I sure wish he could go to the cabin and fish with me. Happy Fathers Day to all you dads out there.
He taught me to play and love the game of baseball.
My father encouraged me to paint and about the arts. Introduced me to the art of Van Gogh, the impressionist movement, the life of Michelangelo, Poe, Letter’s to Theo, Dante’s inferno (for the Dore illustrations) Cocteau’s Beauty and the Beast and to recognize phonies and hypocrites.
I miss him every day. He was a poet himself.