Twenty years ago today, Dad passed away. Buried in Bushnell National Cemetery in Florida. 79 years old. I wept. Continue to miss him though he was a hard man in later years, and I think about him very often. Friends of mine with hard Dads ended up hating their Dads but as hard as my Dad was on me, I loved him. The youngest of eight. His Dad was 44 when he was born (and my Mom said just tired of raising children), Dec. 23, 1914. Graduated from Superior State Teachers College in 1936--I wear his ring sometimes today. Graduated on a Friday and went to work on the Saturday for the Great Northern Railroad. Taught part time math and science at his high school in Superior WI, and at the college. (Richard Bong, highest ace of WWII, flying P-38s, was his student.) Enlisted just before Pearl Harbor, went to OCS at Ft Belvoir at the Engineer School. Went ashore on Omaha Beach, served with the 602nd Engineer Camouflage Battalion, through France, Belgium and into Germany. Came home in late 45, married my Mom in June 46 and worked his career as a civil service engineer for the Army, Corps of Engineers first, and then from 61-73 for Army Materiel Command. Retired as a GS-15 and spent the first year of retirement glued to the television watching with fascination and sadness, the Watergate hearings. Moved to St. Petersburg with my Mom in 90--where he had lived dreamily in 1926,27 for a year and passed away April 10th 1994. In my final conversation with him, I told him, Dad, Im praying for you. He said, Son, I dont believe about prayer the way you do. I dont believe we have to go through anyone, like Mary or Jesus. I think we can pray straight to God. I said, Dad, Jesus is God. He looked at me very strangely as though he were looking through me--weird--and said, Son, Ill have to think about that. My final conversation, and his last words to me were, So long, son. Some small mercy in his passing when he did--he would have detested what our country is becoming and it would have made him profoundly ashamed and sad. He would have turned 100 this year.
Posted on: Thu, 10 Apr 2014 11:57:33 +0000
Trending Topics
© 2015