Thinking of my Father

[docrx]

Sitting here enjoying my my morning pipe my thoughts going to my father...first in my family to get a college education...WW2 hero(two bronze stars and one silver medal)..hard working businessman 12 hour days 6 days a week..sacrificed to be sure we had everything we needed.....My little league coach....His smile and laughter...Making sunday morning breakfast ...Miss him greatly!

 

[papipeguy]

My Dad was a child of the Depression. Served in WWII with the Marines and earned his Purple Heart on Okinawa. He couldn't teach me how to throw a curve ball or a spiral pass but what he did teach me was to work hard, be honest and take care of my family by whatever sacrifice was necessary. He taught by example rather than lecture.

I could never repay him for what he gave us other than by living by his example.

He's 85 now and a bit slower on the move but he is the patriarch and we'll honor him today with a family get-together and some laughs. I'm very lucky to have him this long.

 

[chero]

i got to meet my dad when i was 50, after he had a stroke and he didn't quite have it together. so i only had tales from his family to go by, some good and most bad. he never married, wife and i took him in and cared for him and he died a few months later. very long story.

 

[misterrogers]

You're pa sounded like a hell of a fellow. He sounds like my grandfather, only not a Korean War veteran.
I'll be the first to admit I don't take my father for granted. We don't always get along, and we see the world in a very different way. Plus, add the fact that he and mum are going through a hard spot in their marriage, I tend to support my mum.
That said, he isn't all bad.

 

[pstlpkr]

My Dad, is called "The Old Guns". Marine Drill Instructor and Senior Drill Instructor, 3 tours in Vietnam, loves to play poker and bass fish, smoked a pipe, and has never smiled in a photograph. He's intimidating. (Just ask my wife, and my sister-in-law) But, when you get to know him, his heart is as big as all outdoors, loves babies, his family, and generous to a fault. He demanded I show respect to those who deserved it and "everyone deserves respect". He was strict when I was growing up, but never restrictive. He always told me "do what you have to do", "never start a fight... but always finish it." So in the third grade when I got sent home from school for fighting... he busted my butt, then he took me out for ice cream, because I didn't start the fight but, I finished it.
He's a lurker here sometimes... But, he'll never post.

He gave me this, my most cherished possession:

 

[locopony]

My father is a drunken lout who lives in the squaller of his own creating. He is a genious mechanic and car builder who used it only as needed to get some more liquor. He allowed the horrors he faced in "nam" ruin him. As a hero in fighting and a mechanical genius, I choose to over look his failures and respect his virtures. I learn what I can from him the rest I let slide. He is my father and though not a very good one I choose to love him anyway. I will take the leasons learned both good and bad to apply and make my life a better one than his. I have no time for resentments or bitterness. I only have time to create a good life for me and a better one for my children.

 

[oldmaus]

@Lawrence

Great Post!
Edit: Thanks Jim

 

[marmal4de]

I'll be the first to admit I don't take my father for granted. We don't always get along, and we see the world in a very different way. Plus, add the fact that he and mum are going through a hard spot in their marriage, I tend to support my mum.
That said, he isn't all bad.

This is my EXACT situation as well, down to the divorce in the works, and supporting my mother. That said, I still love and respect this man, and will be departing to spend some time with him shortly.

 

[lonestar]

Guess I need to call the old fart. 82 years old and mean as a rattlesnake

 

[igloo]

35 year Marine and tough as nails , Fought in all three wars . Taught me respect ,honor ,integrity, hard work and love . his favorite lines . Be meticulous in everything you do . Everyone like a a little ass , not a smart ass .Soap and water are cheap .You had better do better in school or you will end up digging ditches for a living . He once gave me a grubbing hoe and shovel for Christmas , still have them . Thanks Dad I miss you .

 

[sjpipesmoker]

My dad smoked a pipe, but mostly cigarette were his choice. I have his 2 pipes that he smoked and I'm gonna keep them, there small pipes with a few big fills (he was trying his had at the pipe but it didn't suit him). I took after him with the cigarettes, quit a few dozen times and then took up pipe smoking for the past 6 years. Recently he was diagnosed with prostate cancer and tomorrow he starts his radiation treatments. Every day for 6-8 weeks he has to have it. He's a strong man, with a good heart. Ex-navy sailor who tried to steer me in the right direction, for that I'll be for ever grateful. My dad is a honest man who will not betray anyone and would turn the other check. I pray that he will be cancer free after his treatments, so we may enjoy our company together, his cigarettes and my pipes

 

[puffy]

When I started pipe smoking My father who didn't smoke told me that he didn't think I should.Then he told me that it was my choice to make.Most of what I've achieved in live I owe to what he taught me and the life that he lived as an example to me.He died eleven years ago.I always miss him.

 

[unclearthur]

It is impossible to say how much I miss Dad. A WWII vet. Tailgunner on a B17. One of the lucky ones. He came home. My hunting buddy and sometimes business partner for which ever wild idea we were trying out at the time. He would have been 87 this August .

 

[smoker]

For 41 years i have thought about my father i never knew him that well passed when i was 3 in an road traffic accident (RTA) for short. I do know he smoked a pipe though. The guy i was brought up knowing as my father isn't worth mentioning only to say he done everything he could to make me resent him in a very BIG way.

 

[ace57]

My dad died in 1994, the best thing He told Me, (well it,s crude but I,ll say it anyways) sorry if it upsets anyone, He said never put your dick any place You wont put Your mouth and You will be safe. again sorry.

 

[marmal4de]

He said never put your dick any place You wont put Your mouth and You will be safe.

Pretty damn solid advice.

 

[tslex]

SGM Robert J. Kuntz Sr., USAAC 1941-1945. Born 1920, died 1994.
He listened to the "Day of Infamy" speech at lunch on Monday. He and three buddies went to the boss and said they'd be back when it was over. Wednesday morning they were all at the recruiting station in Public Square. He was off to basic just after Christmas. Went from buck private to sergeant major in four years. "Robbie," he told me, "the one thing they never ran short of was rank."
Thank God, he went. Thank God he did come back when it was over. God bless you Dad.
The kindest, best man I've ever known. Going to have to smoke his Stanwell tonight.
Thanks for this thread.

 

[ace57]

Tslex, You said that well. My dad 1920-1994 as well. U.S. Army WW2 D-Day Vet

 

[grouchy]

"right or wrong, good or bad, forgotten or known, the love in a family will forever live on."