Dad was, plain and simple, just a good, good soul. He was one of only a few truly humble people I have ever known. Dad always strove to do the "right" thing in all his dealings with his family, in his career and within his community. He lived his own life in strict accordance with his values, and the first and foremost things he valued were love, compassion, and responsibility to family and community. At the same time, he steered away from judging others. He was a man who counted his blessings and counted his blessings as just that, gifts, not "just desserts."

Dad was a mentor to so many people, and a leader within his community, without any sense within himself of that reality.

These last couple of months, when he reached the place where it was no longer possible for him to get out and about, there had been a steady stream of people coming to visit him. Neighbors, friends, former employees, business associates, old family friends, drunks from the local tavern (Dad was never much of a drinker, stopped drinking ethol at all several years ago in support of some one dear to him who has a problem, but has very much enjoyed spending an hour before supper at the local beer garden since I was a young girl,) friends of my sisters and I from high school who developed their own relationships with Mom and Dad and maintained them long after we girls had flown the coop and moved away, even naming children after them, or after my deceased sister, knowing what that would mean to my parents.

These are indeed good, good friends to my parents, and that is how my Dad has understood their visits - good friends reaching out to support a friend in need. Indeed, that is what they were doing. Good, good, friends indeed. At the same time, they have made clear to my mother, sister and I they were simply trying to return in some measure what Dad has given and wanted to try to convey to him what he has meant to them.

I know what my darling father has meant to me in my life. I am stunned by what he has meant to others.


Dad had a talent for story-telling and for humor. He had the gift of laughter, and saw to it that his daughters learned there is always cause for laughter, no matter the situation.

Coming from a very religous, United/Old Regular Baptist upbringing, in our younger years he was strict and and initially uncompromising, but never harsh. He was not an intellectual by any definition, but always thoughtful and willing to reflect and question himself and his positions. He had rules by which he lived. Some few of those rules he ultimately thought everyone should live by, and counted anyone who did not a scoundrel, particularly those related to adultery, or lying for personal gain. In all other areas, his first principles were love and compassion, and a bonafide belief that he is among "the least of these."

This is my little tribute to my Dad. I believe he was realistic in his conviction that there was nothing unique about him in terms of how he lived his life and loved his family, and how he made a difference in the lives of others. I believe there are millions of daughters who could write pretty much the same thing I have written here.

Blessed be.