CH 10 Dad

I never knew my biological father. I saw a picture of him in his Marine uniform. Life has those mysteries we can never answer, so we just have to go on and trust that God IS in control and has a reason for every happening. My earliest recollection of my step-dad is that he was dark and handsome and loved Mom very much. As I got into my teenage years we fought a lot and I looked forward to the time I could be on my own.

Dad had about a 4th grade education. He made his living working for the Santa Fe Railroad’s Orient Shops in Southwest Wichita. Later, he did carpentry work when he chose not to move to Topeka when the shops closed in Wichita. He was a talented, natural artist and shared this interest with each of his children. Only my sister Ellayne’s creativity with crafts and flowers remains as evidence of his artistic influence. As I grew older I began to appreciate the greatest lesson I learned from Dad (he legally adopted me after my senior year in high school). He had the greatest capacity for unconditional love I have ever seen in human form. Each of his children, grandchildren, and even nieces and nephews thought they were his favorite. He did this without anyone feeling left out.

After I was promoted to Overland Park as a Sales Manager, Dad was sent to the Veteran’s Hospital in Kansas City to be treated for a service-related illness. One day we were talking and he said, “We were lucky. This could have happened while you kids were in school and then where would we have been? But it didn’t. We got you all three through school on about half of what you needed. Then one turns out like you, it makes you kind of proud.” For the first time I realized he made no distinction between his two natural daughters and me.

A dozen years later Dad was in the Veteran’s Hospital in Wichita. My oldest daughter went to see him. As she walked into the area where he was she heard him bragging about his son. How great she felt about Grandpa’s capacity for love. Years later we would be able to take the lesson learned and use it. My daughter would marry a man with two young daughters; Dad’s example became our pattern for living. Dad actually considered four people his children. He included my wife Sharon as his too. Dad fell for her almost as quickly as I did and they had a great relationship until his death. Many times someone said something about his three or even his two children and he became irate. He let it be known he had four children. No one could convince him otherwise.