Sunday, November 30, 2008

In Memory

On this beautiful November day, my dad passed away. tm and i had taken her grandson on the ferry to Grafton Illinois. we rode 3 different ferries, saw alot of motorcycles and ate lunch at
the landing. it was a beautiful fall day, one dad would have loved.
On our way home we got a phone call from the care center saying that there had been a change in dad's condition. we stopped there on the way home and decided that we should call the family. Dad passed away about 9:15 that evening with all of us there around his bedside.
Dad was the father of 6, grandfather of 14, great grandfather of 6 with 2 more to come. He was married to my mom (who passed in 2002) for 54 years. He was a veteran of World War 2 and the Korean conflict and was very proud of his service. He didn't talk too much about the war
until the past year or so. He worked 2 jobs a great part of the time, he had an 8th grade
education, but help build jet fighters, the harrier, space shuttle and Skylab. He lived in Missouri,
Maryland, Florida, California when working for Boeing.
He was a simple man who enjoyed being busy outside when the weather was good and
puttering around in his garage when it wasn't. This time last year he was riding is bicycle to
McDonald's for coffee with the guys. He was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in January 2008, but we now believe that he showed symptoms at least 2 years ago that we didn't realize.
He lived with his girlfriend for 3 years then when he entered the care center, was fond of
another lady that also lived at the care center. He taught all of us that you give a good day's work
for a good day's pay and as a result we all are dedicated to our jobs (even when we shouldn't be).
Dad died 22 days before his 85th birthday and 25 days before Thanksgiving which this year
was very solemn for us. Christmas will be too. There is a void in my life right now, this year my
focus was dad, every moment was thinking about dad and what needed to be done. I'm feeling a lost now!