Drew Rothman, you beat me to the punch on paying tribute to the excellent men in our lives. Thank you for the inspiration to complete my thoughts here. I praise my father for who he is and what he has done. He truly ‘trained up a child the way he is bent’ by supporting my interests, including music, engineering, and outdoor adventure. The man made me a personalized library (including hand calligraphy “From the library of…” inserts) of technical reference books through high school that I found myself reading more than my college textbooks. These books helped me get an engineering internship with one of the top microphone and speaker manufacturers in the world right out of high school. His generosity is second to none, as is his work ethic. His incredible wood working skills created a vast array of play opportunities for us as children, including a stage to perform skits, a dual-layer fold-out blackboard that had train tracks on one layer, and slot car tracks on another layer, a playhouse, a space shuttle bed, a huge craft area for building models, WWII biplane replicas that would ‘chase’ each other on a rotating structure, and a pirate ship in which we’d ‘walk the plank’ off the diving board into our pool. He took the time to make it to track meets despite his hectic international travel and study schedule (MBA’s, Spanish, Chinese, etc.). He called to wish me a happy birthday and to say ‘good luck on exams’ many times while he was far away in China and Mexico. We took special week long father/son trips for kayaking and mountain biking while we both had the time. Being raised by a Marine (who was also raised by a strict German family) was not always easy or fun, but I believe the discipline that came out of that upbringing is far better than having a father that was never present. I praise him not just for what he has done for me, but for our community. He has regularly volunteered for the National Park, and assisted with research and presentations for classes at Kent State. He has blessed others with the sounds of the lap dulcimer and hammered dulcimer at many First Friday “Strings and things” gatherings at the Richfield town hall. As he is settling in to his new retirement community, he is already involved in special projects with the wood working club, and is a role model for fitness and vitality for his new community. Like Drew, I also thank other men in my life that have provided excellent fatherly role models: Chris Conner – I am truly grateful for all the lunch and evening workouts we had together, and greatly admire how dedicated you are to your family. Jim Abraham – thank you for helping me start my new life in Christ – to begin developing into the man God created me to be, preparing me to be a husband and father. Mike Leporati – thank you for being a man so dedicated to his family. It truly blows my mind how hard you work. I pray and trust that you will be greatly rewarded for your hard work both for your family and taking care of your customers. Mike Murray – thank you for taking the time to do spiritual growth studies together, especially at 6:30AM on a Friday morning, and for the fellowship of trail running together. Tom Petek – thank you for being an outstanding mentor to me spiritually and financially, and helping with car and house projects Finally – to all the fathers at CVC’s Guardian’s/Men’s Fraternity classes and groups that I had the privilege to attend. Thank you for being real, for being strong men of integrity, and for sharing your struggles and mistakes, and the resulting advice these experiences provided. God bless you all on this Father’s Day.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Jun 2013 15:22:57 +0000
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