My beloved Children,
I was just lying on the couch taking a little nap, when I awoke I was thinking of my dad and what a wonderful man he was. From my first remembrance of him as a little child he was a gentle man. I remember him holding me on his lap and I think we were both enjoying those times. I remember riding on his shoulders and I loved it. He would throw me up in the air and catch me. What a thrill and what fun that was. We sometimes forget some of those wonderful moments of our lives.
I didn’t realize at that time that he had only one good leg. When he was twenty-one he lost a leg from the knee down in a motorcycle accident. Dad had a girl friend and they were to be married and she decided not to go through with it. Later he met Lena Garry, they married, had five children and I was the last. She came down with TB and died when I was one and a half years old. I am just waiting to meet her in heavenly places and get to know her.
Dad also played the banjo but after my mother died he very seldom played it. Once in a while we could get him to play but it must have brought back memories of
I had such great times with my dad. I loved to fish and he took me fishing often. We had a boat down on the lake just a short distance from home. We would go down on the lake in the evening and row out to about ten feet of water and anchor. Our bait would be night crawlers or suckers. The fishing was good and in an hour or two we would catch two fish apiece, either lake trout or salmon and they would be about twenty two inches long. Boy these fish were good eating! What fun we had, it still blesses my soul as I think of it now.
Dad would take me out hunting. I didn’t have a gun yet and he would make me walk in his footsteps. I had to really pay attention because when he would stop I had to stop three paces behind him. I don’t recall getting a lot of game. I expect I was making to much noise.
Another memory of those early years was riding on the farm equipment. Dad would hold me on his lap and we would rack hay, plow ground or harrow. I am sure I was in the way most of the time but Dad put up with me anyhow.
Sometimes when we think of the good old days, they didn’t seem so good but in spite of that there were some good times, a lot of good times!
Dear children remember the good times, think of them now and then. I am sure they will bless you even as they have blessed me. I have a storehouse full of these wonderful memories of my Dad, my family, and friends and so do you. Go to that storehouse and check it out now and then, it will bless you.
God bless you my dear family.
With Love,
Your Dad