My Daddy is a man of simple passions and pleasures. He loves dogs, farms, newspapers, visiting with people, hardware stores, pigs, education, fixing cars, collecting old radios, WWII memorabilia, feeding birds and squirrels, doctor appointments, collecting boxes, garage sales, laughter, story-telling, butter pecan ice cream, marigolds, flannel shirts, Tiger baseball, history, peanuts, his family and PIE!
One of my fondest memories while growing up was listening to Detroit Tiger baseball games on the radio together on warm summer nights. I often helped him hold a flashlight to the car engine as he tinkered on one of our warn-out, old cars. We loved listening to Ernie Harwell’s tranquil voice announce the play by play into the night. He and I would talk about the line-up, the players’ averages, and why Al Kaline was in a slump.
My daddy’s love for his family was paramount and where he got his greatest joy. He loved telling stories of his one-room schoolhouse days and of their farm growing up to all of us kids. He spoke of hard work with honor and respect and love for his neighbors and relatives with pride.
My daddy loves people, loves talking to all people that cross his path. His bank teller, waitresses, or hardware store assistant would soon become fast friends as he loved to meet and enjoy people.
He also had a huge sweet tooth, as I do. Sometimes he would stop for candy bars or ice cream cones on road trips, which thrilled me beyond compare. But he loved pie most of all, and always, always appreciated my mommy’s delicious homemade pies, and later in life, my own homemade pies!
My daddy’s smile and laugh have always been my favorite. He absolutely loves to laugh, as his eyes squint up with an ear to ear grin covering his face, when he finds something pleasing, which he does often.
My daddy was a wonderful father. He is sadly crippled now, nearly bed ridden and his mind does numbers on him at times. It is evident we are losing my great father to age, but not his purpose, for we all are destined to create a legacy with the amount of time God gives us here on earth. My daddy certainly has done that for me, and I am sure I can speak for my three brothers and sister as well. Thank you, daddy for leaving me with your spirit of unconditional love and respect of people, laughter, appreciating and honoring our past, the importance of story-telling, great passions and most importantly, the love for family!
With gratitude and deep love, my sweet, sweet daddy!
Addendum - Daddy passed on to heaven on January 6, 2012