My dad was just an all-around nice guy. Everybody that met him liked him. He grew up in Nanty-Glo PA, a coal-mining area east of Pittsburgh. His own father died at age 48 (my dad would've been 8, I think) due to complications from appendicitis.

One of dad's older brothers was in a terrible mine accident (he survived, thankfully), but their mother decided to move the family away from the mines. The whole family moved to Detroit MI, and dad got a job as a salesman at JL Hudson's department store.

He only had an 8th grade education, but he had a way with people. He died of a massive heart attack when I was 13-- he was only 52.

Among other things, he taught me (his daughter) how to use power tools-- jig saw, table saw, drills, soldering iron, etc. My mother wasn't too happy about it, but the time I spent in his workshop was golden.

Maryanne