……….Happy Father’s Day! For those of my readers fortunate enough to still have their fathers with them, today’s the day to make sure they know how loved and appreciated they are. For those of us who no longer have our fathers, we are hurting. Maybe it’s the day to recall the happy memories; hold them close to you; and know that your Dad is still with you in a ton of ways. I think of my Dad everyday day. That makes sense to me. I talked to my Dad every day of my life, either by phone or in person. That’s in contrast to my sister Marsha who was just two when he went off to fight WW II and she didn’t see him for three years. All she knew of him was a picture of a man in a sailor’s cap. She was always looking for him and took to going up to strange men on the Weirton/Steubenville bus and if the man had on a sailor cap asking “are you my Daddy?” It was a heartbreaker, but the men would frequently give her their chocolate coupons.
……I was fortunate in that no war or job ever kept me from Dad. When I was two-years-old he left his secure job at Weirton Steel to go full-time as a Justice of the Peace. He was his own boss and he loved that. I loved it too, because until I was in school he spent his lunch hour with me. And, after school I would walk to his office in upper town sit on the steps behind his office and listen to some of the most interesting trials, hearings or meetings among politicos.
……..It’s ironic that the cards for Father’s Day show a father that’s perfect when often what we love about the man are his imperfections. My Dad was certainly not perfect,. He knew what he wanted and took chances to get them. He risked everything to quit the mill to make a go of being a full-time Justice of the Peace. He would add city judge and coroner, own an insurance agency, a finance company and for a short time the garbage company. (The garbage company is a funny story for another day.)
……. While Marsha learned to cook and clean and excelled in her studies, I was Dad’s Velcro kid. I went on every coroner’s call possible. I sat through trials and I was intrigued by him and found everything about his jobs interesting. The photo I used today was one of five the Charleston Daily Mail ran when Dad testified before the Governor’s Commission on Organized Crime in Hancock County. All five of the photos ran with the article. He bought the photos from the photographer, but didn’t keep the article. I wish he had.
……..Funny thing is that even though been he’s been gone over 30 years, he’s with me everyday. He’s in everything I write. He’s in everything I believe to be right and the wrongs I see that need to be corrected. I’m sure I bought him many ties through the years, but I think the greatest gift I gave him are the parts of him that I not only see in myself, but in his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
…….Did you know that Father’s Day, just like Mother’s Day, got it’s start in West Virginia. On August 15, 1908, Grace Golden Clayton organized a service predominantly for the many miners who had lost their life in the worst mining accident in US history.
…… The holiday, as we know it today, however, is credited to Donna Dodd of Spokane, Washington to honor her father, a Civil War Veteran. On June 10, 1916 President Calvin Cooledge signed a resolution proclaiming the day be set aside “to establish more intimate relations between a father and his children.” In 1966, Pres. Lyndon Johnson declared the third Sunday in June as Father’s Day. In the early years, the holiday met with resistance from men. The men of that time felt it was too effeminate a holiday. President Woodrow Wilson referred to mothers as “the gentle, tender army,” that achieved so much. Is it any wonder that men of that time scoffed at what they saw as a sentimental attempt to domesticate manliness.?
……..The lines aren’t so boldly drawn today as to mother and father’s roles. Men stay home and take care of the kids while Moms work. We have found that the role of a father goes way beyond provider for the family as the number of families with and absent father increases. The presence of a father in a child’s life is vital as a father leads by example. If I could say anything to today’s fathers reading this it would be, “You are so important Never before in our history has the presence of a father to a child been so vital. You give your child love and sustenance, but you also provide the armor that he/she will use to fend off the evils of the world we now inhabit. You have a heavy burden to bear, but the love and admiration of your children is a gift to be cherished..
Hapy Father’s Day!
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