My Dearest Father passed over on May 28, 2021, after suffering a severe fall at home. It has been a year since his passing, and I miss him very much.
Dad was a strong man, a man of courage, determination and action. He was always busy, fixing something, tinkering, bettering this or that, gardening or seeing to his trees. Tall and athletic in his early to mid years, he enjoyed playing basketball and swimming with those he considered his friends, at Orange Avenue Pool; he was an amazingly strong lake swimmer, going a mile or more in Clearlake. Dad loved camping, and was wonderful to watch as he cut up ClearLake and Lake Shasta on his single ski, he loved to water ski, and man, he was good. I think his favorite place on this planet was ClearLake, and I have many, many memories of time spent there with him.
After retirement he spent winters touring the Great American Southwest in a trailer, hiking and sightseeing and going to rock shows.
He really, deeply loved his cat Sandy.
Dad was born in Lowell, Mass. and raised in an orphanage near Denver, Colo., it was there that he learned to farm and fix all things mechanical. His true age was unclear, and he joined the US Navy at age 14 during WWII, which he just loved. He often told me that he was raised by the Navy, which accounted for his regimented and sometimes stern and unmoving positions. He said often that he was a “hard” man, but that was not the sum of who he was.
Working for Pacific Telephone in San Francisco was a great source of happiness and pride. He was proud of his work as a Lineman/ Repairman, and was loyal to his employer. Dad was able to make a good life for us through his hard work and dedication.
My Father had a beautiful smile and brown eyes that twinkled. My children and I are still in love with that image of him. He was gracious and supportive, helping my children through University with great pleasure on his part and we will be forever grateful for his generosity of heart and his mindfulness.
Near the end of his life, Dad continued to demonstrate great courage; assessing his life, his goals and his wishes about how to live the end of his life, we had really deep, hard, but amazing conversations about how he saw himself now; and he decided in August of 2020 to go on Hospice. His goal was to “die with dignity.”
It was the greatest Blessing of my life to care for my Dad the last week of his life, when he could no longer care for himself; free from pain and embraced in the love
that I still feel for him to this day. We had a sometimes-rocky journey together, but Love does truly conquer all. I will Love and miss you always, your youngest daughter, Gail.
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO
personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who
make comments. Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. Don't threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Anyone violating these rules will be issued a
warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be
revoked.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
(0) entries
Sign the guestbook.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.