Fathers

I was fortunate to have the greatest daddy.  He passed away on Christmas eve of 2007 and was in very bad health for six years before he passed away.  Yesterday I went to my best friend's dads funeral ( Mr. B).  He was buried on my dad's birthday and my dad passed away on Mr.B's birthday.  I was very impressed with all of Mr. B's accomplishments.  He was a wonderful father of four very accomplished children and also had  four terrific grandchildren.  He was a retired  career military officer.  He was very religious and instilled his core values with love instead of terror. 

My Dad was the same. He was very religious and he had a tough upbringing during the depression.  He really raise his mother and his mom and dad divorced in the 1930's- which was practically  unheard of at that time. His mom was an alcoholic and he and his sister learned early how to fend for themselves. He turned to sports and was a top high school athlete playing football, basketball and baseball.  He played football against George Blanda at a neighboring high school.  I believe George Bland holds the record for the oldest pro football player.  Those coal- miner kids came from very tough stock.

My dad turned 18 on July 27, 1945 and enlisted in the army.  He fortunately went through basic training and was about to be shipped off to Japan, when the war ended and he was among the first Americans to go to Hiroshima and witness the devastation caused by a hydrogen bomb. He served his 2 years and was about to reenlist to go to Korea and decided to come home and go to college.  That was a fortunate choice because all of his army buddies that went to Korea did not return.

He became a teacher and later a guidance counsellor.  He worked on developing schedules for a high school that had 600-700 students per class and before the computer he did all the schedules by hand.  His students loved him as did my sister and I.  He was a really loving parent. Just as he took care of his alcoholic mom, he also was charged with caring for a schizophrenic wife. He had a good heart and even though he could have left the dysfunction, he stuck it out. 

During the last six years of his life, I watched him deteriorate.  He maintained a positive attitude and I came to visit him as often as I could. I treasure the time I got to spend with him and I learned so much about his childhood and his inner thoughts.  We had fun together and I called him every day.  I miss his voice and a really miss that cheering greeting I got each day.  I have no one that I can call every single day, that wouldn't get sick of hearing my voice. He was the greatest and I was so lucky to have one parent that treasured my existence.

We threw him a party when he turned eighty and one of his former students came up to me and said- your dad saved my life.  He explained he was lost in high school and was about to enlist to go to Vietnam.  My dad looked at his grades and convinced him to go to college and he became a high schoolteacher and coach.  He said that none of the guys he knew that went to Vietnam came back.  My dad let him know he believed in him and also saved him.

Mr. B and my dad lived separate but similar lives.  Mr. B was black and had to overcome growing up in the south before civil rights.  His children harbor no grudges towards anyone for this.  My dad raised two accomplished girls that survived our childhood ordeals and also each raised daughters that are really terrific kids also. 

Bless you Pop-pop and Grandpa B!!!