Dad died in 1982. He was 75 years old. I was in my 30's, living in Texas and raising 3 young kids. How I wish I had had more time with him. I was the youngest of 3 and after going off to college at 18, I really never went back home again. Spent summers on campus and then married DH 3 days before my graduation (had a very short honeymoon as we had to be back on campus 2 days later for graduation).
Dad was a typical quiet Englishman with a very dry sense of humor. He smoked cigars and a pipe ... and to this day, the aroma of either remind me of him... and Sunday mornings. His dad, mom, and siblings came to the States from London in 1920. I never asked him why. He was the oldest (13) at the time.
They settled in Jacksonville, Florida back then. And when dad was a little older, he landed a job as a general manager of a stone company in New Orleans and moved the whole family there. That became their permanent home and that's where I grew up. But hindsight hits you hard when you're my age. I now wonder why they never went back to London, why family from neither side (grandpa William's nor grandma Eleanor's) never visited the States? They certainly weren't rich, but since they traveled back and forth between London and the States between 1918 and 1920 three times before deciding to stay... they weren't poor either.
Anyway, despite all the questions I never asked, I still miss him. He was a good man, kind, gentle, and definitely a good husband and father. He used to sing "Onward Christian Soldiers" when we would go out driving. Used the expression, "Don't take any wooden nickels" and remembered London during WW1 - dad was 7 - 11 during the war (And since the war ended around 1918 and that's when Grandpa left with the family - maybe the condition London was in after the war had something to do with their leaving...?)
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| Dad in his younger years |
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| Think this was taken around 1945 |
I like this pic as if you look closely, you can see how pale blue my dad's eyes were.
I wanted to find a pic of all of us as a family to post, but my old pictures are in boxes that need to be sorted and there's no time for me to go through those today.... so I'm going to close with a pic that I did find on my computer of another father (DH and our daughter taken in 1970).
Happy Father's Day!
And this is how our 3 cats are spending the day...
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| Ghost on chair in front room |
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| Tux and Julie on my work table |
This last one is not a good pic, but as you can see, they have to be close by while I work on my clay
And all DH wanted for Father's Day was :
Hugs,
Rian
Rian
Oh, how sweet! I thought about finding a picture of my ex, the father of both of my boys but instead I decided to write about Daddy. Love your pictures and your dad was a looker, Rian. :-)
ReplyDeleteYou made me laugh, DJan! Guess I never heard anyone refer to my dad as a looker. But then I never knew him when he was young. He did have those pale blue eyes...
DeleteGood to hear some about your dad ... in my own case, I regret all those questions I never asked.
ReplyDeleteOh, I do wish I'd thought to ask those questions when there were still those around who could answer them..
DeleteHe was a handsome man and a lot of your description fit my own father.They passed around the same age and time and like you I often have questions go unanswered that I failed to ask when he was here.
ReplyDeletePatti, I guess our lives are too busy or too focused on ourselves when we're younger and don't think about these things until its too late.
DeleteI suspect your thought that there was some conditions after the war that brought them to the U.S. We were fortunate in that our dad wrote an article of his life story, at least up to the point when he married mom in 1954. He passed in 2003 at the age of 98. I don't think we ever get over missing them.
ReplyDeleteI do suspect that. Grandpa's older brother also left England with his family during this time. He settled in Canada (British Columbia I think) and raised his family there.
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