Despite how fathers are often portrayed in our American society today, fathers of strong character are essential to the well being of the family; to the
wife and mother and the children. My own memories of my dad have been created from the stories told to me by my mother and uncles, and by a few old
photographs of my father and my brother and me at the beach.
I was born in 1938, and, while my dad was exempted from military service during World War II, he worked seven days a week from 1942 to 1945 in a war-related
industry. He was gone in the morning before I awoke and returned in the evening after I had gone to bed. He passed away in 1946 when I was 8 years
old. I have few memories of him, but my mother had great respect for him and passed on that respect to my brother and me. Dad was just 41 when he died;
my mother just 40. When I was an adult and married myself, I asked her why she had never remarried. She said that she never met a man as good as my
dad, and, besides, she didn’t want another man to raise her boys. My mother died 59 years after my dad at the age of 99.
My wife and I have two sons, as well, and I have striven to raise them as I imagine my dad would have raised me.
Submitted by Ed