In Memory of Dad

I was blessed to have two wonderful parents. Both of them were talented, mom was a great cook, quilter, seamstress, gardener and also crocheted. Dad was also a cook, particularly known for his pork shoulders cooked on the pit. Down south, that's simply known as barbecue. Thanksgiving and Christmas it was his cornbread dressing. Then there was his hush puppies, spring rolls, barbecue chicken......oh, how he loved food and loved to prepare and feed people. I could talk for hours just on dad and food. For as long as I can remember he had a big garden which you can see part of it in one of the photos, in their backyard just steps from the covered patio where the pit was. He had alot of creativity. I recall his snow person in our front yard before I was 6 years old. He didn't make a snowman, he made a statue! That was one of the few big snows in my lifetime. I recall watching him work on the bust of Lyndon Johnson at our kitchen table, mostly remembering that he used toothpicks some on it. The only one he ever did that I am aware of. That table is where I do my painting now....it's a story in itself for later! He did all the wood carvings in the photo while he was a night security guard when I was very young. During his last year of life he told me he read through the bible twice during that job. The photo was taken for an article on them in the base newspaper. I found the drawings as we were cleaning out their house, I don't recall seeing them before. Obviously, the colored pencil one is of President Kennedy and the other is of a General but I don't know who he is. He didn't draw or paint that often. He did pencil drawings of my two brothers' baby photo. He used it in various ways. I've been that way myself even though I have an art degree. In the 70's when macrame became popular, he did that-I still have a purse he made, with a wooden handle. Made jewelry from old mercury dimes for each one of my mom's seven sisters and one for her and I to share.

Dad was in the service during the Korean Conflict, he and mom got married on a weekend pass. Next time she saw him he had been severely injured in the back by shrapnel and was in the hospital many states away for a year. They thought he would be paralyzed. During that time he made some items out of leather and the copper reliefs. He learned to cut hair in the service too and had a barbershop where he worked Thursday evenings and Saturday when I was growing up. His real job was with the government and was on the base, where he started out as the security guard. He wasn't an educated person and he had his job to provide for the family but lived to do all the other things he enjoyed. He had a quick wit and usually a joke, he enjoyed being around people.

Our childhood vacations were spent at the lake an hour or so away, camping in a school bus he had totally renovated. He worked on it in the evenings in the backyard. I would go out and sit with him to keep him company while he worked. It had built-in cabinets, sink, an icebox, he made a booth to eat in using two of the bus seats and a table...just behind the driver's seat. There were two sets of bunkbeds in the back and a couch that folded down that could sleep two. Mom made curtains and he put them up all the way around. Yes, there was room in the very back for a porta-potty! He had it painted blue and white on the outside. There were tables attached to the side of the bus that folded down....the place for the gas grill....and all that cooking. He loved to fish.

He retired the first chance he got and sometime later had a building built in the back of the house that had his barbershop and a workshop. He then began building furniture. He built gun cabinets, entertainment centers, bedroom pieces. He made cedar chests that some of the granddaughters have. VolleyGirl has a sweet babydoll crib. OK, I could go on and on, but you get the picture. He socialized with his friends in his shop working together with some of them on his and their pieces.

The last photo is dad and my two kids in 1999. Today is the fifth anniversary of his passing. He is still greatly missed but he sure made an impact and left a tremendous amount of memories.