111 today.

[feddoc]

That's how old my dad would be if he was alive.

Got AFU in WW II when he was in a horse mounted cavalry unit. The pic is of him enlisting in 1942 very shortly after he learned of Pearl Harbor.

Tough old man and had plenty of stories about growing up near or in the slums of Chicago after his parents died. Many more stories about being an itinerant cowboy in the west, primarily Wyoming and Colorado with stops in Montana and NM. He never completed 5th grade and when he was 13 he left his uncle's house and headed west.

He understood only three things; the value of hard work, horses and the value of an education.

The day he died I had to feed him through a turkey baster (strawberry shake). He apologized for things he had little control over. He thought he wasn't a good dad, but, he was. He gave me the drive to never underestimate the values of being loyal, working hard/smart, getting an education and treasuring family time.

Being the orphaned son of and orphaned son, he had no good examples of parenting, certainly not from his abusive uncle.

 

[3200]

Feddoc,

We need way more people in the world with those same values.

 

[Bossbrott]

As a dad myself, the term "never thought he was a good dad" is a tough set of words to put on oneself. Sounds like you smoothed it over prior to his passing, good on you.
A good man should never have to carry that to his grave.
Sounds like he was a good man, a good father, with a solid set of morale and values.
I wish him a happy birthday.

 

[Gator]

Being a Dad is a job you have to get right everyday, not just now and then seem like he did a good job.
I been a good dad from over 40 yrs and counting.
Trying to be the good Grandpa now finding that is just as hard.