My father had many of the accolades one would certainly expect and want a good father/parent to
have; security-minded; dependable; honesty; wisdom; discipline, yadda, yadda, yadda...I believe
those good traits were easily taken for granted back then and still are. Pop's walked softly, carried a
big stick, a shotgun and was not afraid to use either in any scenario.My dad was an ultimate Do-It-Yourselfer. He was hands-on all the time. I simply can’t remember
ever having a repair person or craftsman visit our home. Of course, we could not afford to have any
paid repair person, but my dad would not have called one, even if he had the funds to do so.
My father dropped out of middle school. Work was the priority during his adolescence era. He
taught himself to read by reading western novels, his passion. He nor my mom drank libations, and
even though he made homebrew (beer & wine), I never witness him sampling his wares.Father smoked Salem Menthols until he was diagnosed with Type II diabetes at 40 something.
Upon diagnosis, he stopped smoking immediately, cold turkey...no gum, no therapy. He did
everything he was supposed to do back then for his diabetic care. He was relentless in his effort to
regain better health.One of my daddy's passion was picking his guitar. I'm sure daddy never had a guitar lesson either.
He was pretty good. My siblings all seemed to pick up the strings. Some better than others.
There was a family story my mother and my elder siblings shared with me regarding my eldest
brother's, number #1 opportunity in music as a career. It appears he had been chosen over B.B.
King for a contract, but, as I understood it, but after 1 family objections to him being on the road,
my brother simply opted out of the potential contract. Of course, we all know the legend, B.B. King.
I know our father thought his son was a better guitar player. I have no idea. Based on some of his
former band members I met at his funeral services, there was some credence to that story.I never heard my brother nor his band play. I'm sure our dad was his guitar mentor. Makes sense.
My dad also had the skills and foresight to improve upon regular hand tools for his mechanical
minded purpose. Yep, he was the inventor also. Although he never had any formal training, he
could tear down and re-install a car engine using a repair manual as a guide. (He would often let me
read the instructions while he did the auto repairs. (Father/Son time) I think both of us loved it. He
was also an accomplished gunsmith. All without Google and YouTube...go gure...My dad was a well respected, proud 40-year tenured employee for Air Carrier Engine Services. Inc.
He enjoyed going to work. I never heard him complain. He was the last to be laid off at the
company's demise. I don't think he was ever late or missed a day at his job. He would only live 2 years after his retirement. During that 2 year retirement, he seemed a bit lost
and somewhat at-a-loss. He clearly missed work. I always thought he would open some type of
repair shop, but he would have probably charged nothing for his repair work. Just the type of
person he was.