Father’s Day is upon us. The first one observed was June 19th, 1910 in Spokane, Washington. I guess they had to find some way to sell all the neckties leftover from Christmas. I remember as a kid making a pair of cuff links for my dad. I was what folks called a “rock hound”. I was always picking up all sorts of interesting stones. I’d use the rock polisher Santa brought me one year to get the stones looking their best before mounting them on cuff studs or on a chain. I appreciated him wearing them then but didn’t think much of it. Now that I’m a father, I appreciate it in a much bigger way. I realize that it was a gift given in love and worn in love.
He was born on a farm in South Georgia in 1914. He went to high school but wasn’t able to finish. It was the Depression and his hands were required on the farm fulltime. But he was a voracious reader and continued to learn on his own. It became obvious that the farm couldn’t contain him. So when word came that Georgia was forming a state police force, he applied and in 1939 he was one of the 100 or so men that made up the first troop of the Georgia State Patrol. I still have the ring he received when he became a trooper. Unlike the cuff links I also inherited, I actually wear it on occasion.
World War II arrived and upon learning from a friend on the Draft Board that he was about to be drafted into the Army, he said “That ain’t happening”. “But Homer you’re not gonna dodge are you,” his friend asked. “No” and with that he walked into the Navy recruiter’s office and enlisted. GO NAVY.
As you know from my previous blog about mom, Dad met her in New York during his time in the Navy. See the blog “She Danced with a Jerk”. He was that jerk.
Dad would go on to work for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms chasing bootleggers for the better part of 30 years. You could tell by the stories he shared that he loved every minute of it. That brings me to the one of the best gifts my dad ever gave me.
All he wanted to do when he retired was fish and garden. And that’s what he did. After six months he’d had enough of both so he became a paper carrier for the AJC. I was 12 at the time and during the summers I got ride shotgun. He’d indulge my craving for bubble gum and, although he was a country music fan, he’d let me play WIDE 107, the Top 40 station owned and operated by another great dad: John W. Jacobs Jr. I’d blow bubbles and sing with the radio while he’d tell all sorts of great stories about growing up on the farm, being a Trooper, WWII, and chasing bootleggers. The stories were great, but it was the gift of his time that meant the most. Yeah he was my dad and I still got in trouble occasionally, but we played tennis, fished, swam, and camped together. He was a good friend and a great father who was always trying to give his family the best.
Sadly he died two months before his first grandchild was born. But based on the fact that both of our children have a good sense of humor, know right from wrong, and have an incredible work ethic, I’d say his influence lives on…..Good job Daddy.
Happy Father’s Day.
