Saturday, June 19, 2010

Father's Day....

With a small crowd going to show up tomorrow for Father's Day cookout, I was thinking about my dad. He died early in my life and it was a terrific jolt to me. He was really a hell of a guy. A Seabee during World War 2, he served in the Philippines, Leyte Gulf, and around that area. He was a great mechanic, designing tools for the company he worked for. He was a workaholic.
I am sure I would have turned out better if he had been around. And for sure I would have turned out different. He was for all his good, totally against art as a career. Which would have probably resulted in one of us leaving, and we all know who that would have been. I am sure we would have butted heads a few times.
But I also remember how much he did for me.....from building the world's strongest swing set that still stands today at our old house and I am sure will survive everything short of a 50 kilo-ton nuke! To pulling me around the Nebraska State Fair in a wagon with my broken ankle to see Roy Rogers, to giving me my first dog.
Ever since I was a kid, when we returned to our hometown in Nebraska, everyone knew me instantly because I look like him. I can only hope I act a little like him.
thanks Pop......I never got to call him that, I would have liked too.

5 comments:

  1. What an uncanny resemblance! I suspect that your pop would be as proud of you as I am, pal. Probably even more.

    Happy Father's Day, by the way.

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  2. Happy Father's Day,Tom! I hope it is a good one. For me, I'm a bachelor, and my Dad is gone, so just another day for me.

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  3. Military Service?
    Work ethic?
    Do anything for my kids?
    Great mechanic?

    He lives on.

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  4. He does favor you. I'm sure ya'll had a lot in common, and would have been proud of you art. Nice memories.

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  5. Thanks everyone, I don't know if he would of been proud of me, but I have been chasing that ghost for over 40 years. thanks to all.

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