Our Dad-Katrina

A tribute to my Dad: the oldest: Tiny

I do not remember, however my Dad does,
how I was labeled: 'Tiny'

We are from a huge family, a loving family,
a family that actually did Things together growing up.
Our folks played cards, Pinochle, they loved it,
With my aunts and uncles for YEARS.....
at a young age, of about 2 years old.
The Family was at our home in Kansas, Playing cards.

The adults were in the kitchen for a snack break,
us 'kids' were all over playing.
Someone threw the ball, I went after it,
to the dismay of the adults.....
the ball was rolling towards the table,
I was going full-speed ahead. I ran to the ball,
which stopped under the table.

I bent over picked it up and was surprised the adults
were running after me. I was not hurt at all and I had the ball.
I was so 'tiny' as to not hit my head on the table
I received the name 'Tiny' had it for years
till the 10th grade, those horrid teen years.
Few things strike up 'good' memories of those teens years.

This is NOT one of them

My cars are a source of Grand memories.
My first car was a 1953 Corvette.
OHHH how I loved that car!

The year was 1953, America was finally past World War II, and automobile history needed some spark to pick up sales. Chevrolet's answer was the dazzling sports car, a two seater 1953 corvette made of fiberglass. 300 vettes were produced in a test to see if this new radical concept would fly.
What a mighty impact, the corvette legend was started!

Dad had a great love for cars, he managed to pass that love
along to us children. I remember fondly helping dad in the Garage
and really being an auto mechanic with him.
That is my dad, he could work on any 'project'
he loved to 'tinker' in ANYTHING just to have something to do.
He is truly a Jack-of-all-trades,
and knows more than paid employees such as cars, plumbing, electrical,
and what ever else can go wrong with a home, car or yard.

He has in his garage tons of tools, which we may borrow at any time
to get a job done: one thing we did learn:
with the RIGHT tool the job is done faster and with less aggravation.

One memory: While Dad was at work, I took it upon myself to 'finish'
a job: we were rebuilding a carburetor. I could not wait to show him my
project and how I had lots of parts left over that did not need to go
back into the car, the other parts fit with out them.
Dad, as his usual way, not to burst anyones bubble,
said that was good, ate his dinner and went out and
repaired my repair job.

One very unique thing of our family, we got our 'first' loan from Dad.
He purchased the car we wanted, and we made out a written agreement
and we each signed it and then we, the children paid Dad back.
A lot of kids in school saw this as a way of getting out of paying
for a car. We knew better.Thanks Dad. One loan Dad took me to the bank
so that I could start getting 'credit' built up in my name.
No way would a bank do this today. The loan was in Dads name, and mine
and I paid for it, Dad made sure the Bank employee knew,
the payments were from me.
That might have been my second car, a 1964 Corvair,
that car was so trustworthy, hardly ever needed work on it.

One of the first 'home' I remember is in Wichita Kansas.
It was a one room 'shack' literally, Dad built it into a home.
We had 3 acres, tons of fun in those fields. A BIG garage.
One time we built a boat. It was named, 'Yellow-Jacket'
it had the colors of a Yellow-Jacket wasp.
Dad had put layer upon layer of fiberglass,
to this day whenever I smell fiberglass,
that garage is one of the first things that comes to my minds eye.

Another very neat thing, with all of his tinkering
we learned a lot of how things are put together,
each of us to this day hardly ever have to call in a repair man.
When I got married, the bathroom sink was leaking
after a few days, I asked my husband when was he going to fix it,
he asked me when was I going to call a repair man
so... to this day, I am the repair person in our family.

We took many family vacations, car trips.
Dad has ALWAYS had an Oldsmobile.
A few of them I remember a couple of Green ones.

Dad also rode motorcycles, he had a huge Indian at one time.

As we 4 children got older Dad devised a way of keeping us home
and off the streets: he purchased a pool table.
Each of us got pretty good at that game.
We had 'dates' in our own garage; our boyfriends loved free pool games.
Dad was very good at it, I have to say, that is one sport
I do not mind watching on TV, and I am not one bit the sports viewing kind.

Speaking of TV, we were the first one of the block to have TV
in Kansas and the first one to have a COLOR TV when it came along.
It was so neat the first time we watched 'Bonanza' in color,
yes, Adam was still the cutest even in color.
Staying up to watch TV go off the air, the test pattern
and the purchasing of 'Test tubes'. WOW, such a long time ago.

The best part of my Dad is......... he is Dad!
There is Nothing he would not do for one of his own..
He loves us, of that we have no doubt.
He will lend his ear, give advice if asked for,
and if you have any sense in you at all, you will ask for it.
He would never let you starve. If you need food, he will provide
but also you will not be allowed to 'use' him.
He has set a very fine and upright direction for us to follow.
Thanks Dad.

I asked Dad one time what he would do if he did not have the life
he has: his choice was to go fishing
just go fishing all over.
Have no home to call home, just fish

We did a ton of fishing in my younger days.
Can't say I was overly jazzed at them,
but I did love to see Dad have a good time
and he always had a grand time fishing even when
he did not catch a single fish.

I asked my sisters and brother to come up with a tune that
whenever they heard it the only thought they had;
was of Dad.
I chose BlueBerry Hill.
I can 'see' Dad singing this song.
He has a great voice, makes you want to sing with him,
which we did for miles and miles on our road trips.

The other chosen songs have special place in my heart too,
I learned to dance to those tunes,my Dad taught me to dance
just like in the commercials on TV,
me up on my Dads shoes,and he counting out the beats and rhythms
and then as I got older and ready to go to school dances,
yes, he was there to teach me,
by watching him and Mom dance and then he would dance with me
..Thanks Dad

To this day, in my minds eye.......
...Whenever he did one of his 'projects' and it worked just like
he thought it would, I can still see him sing.
'I found my thrill on blueberry hill.......'
I love my Dad. Thank-you Lord.

To the Second Oldest: Paulina

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