tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post3641351165173855081..comments2024-03-28T12:00:47.858-04:00Comments on Jungle Red Writers: Happy Father's Day!Jungle Red Writershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16646429819267618412noreply@blogger.comBlogger33125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-11546343117627118562019-06-16T15:37:29.149-04:002019-06-16T15:37:29.149-04:00In the sixties, while building our cabin, my fathe...In the sixties, while building our cabin, my father found where to dig a well with two forked branches too. It was not the first time he used this useful skill.danielle-momohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02004302871652952720noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-89107621730640881842019-06-16T15:02:03.083-04:002019-06-16T15:02:03.083-04:00A water witch diviner?!?! Is there really such a t...A water witch diviner?!?! Is there really such a thing? Very useful for someone in real estate I’d think Hallie Ephronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04759439029582054503noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-58922895824657793032019-06-16T14:25:46.788-04:002019-06-16T14:25:46.788-04:00My father was born in 1901 and was 96 when he died...My father was born in 1901 and was 96 when he died in 1997. He turned 53 a couple of months after I was born. My mother was 43 when I was born. I was the youngest of five children, one of whom died as an infant, and although my parents were the ages of some of my friends' grandparents, they kept up fantastically with all of my activities. One of the extra duties my father had was to drive all of his children to their many activities, as my mother didn't drive. I have to give him credit because I don't ever remember hearing him complain about that. Of course, we all got a car when we got our license, so I'm sure he was glad to be relieved of his chauffeur job. <br /><br />My dad was truly a self-made man. He started out on a farm, one of six children, and was expected to pull his weight, which he did. But when he became an adult, he decided he didn't want the life of a farmer and tried out an insurance career. He did stay with that for a short bit, but then after he married my mother and started a family, he switched to real estate, a good move. He was somewhat of a visionary, as he developed the first subdivision in our county, actually the first two. He was a born real estate man and did well with it. He did actually incorporate the farm into his life, as he owned a couple of farms, mainly for the tobacco base back in the day. One of the interesting things about my father is that he was a water witch/diviner. He always carried a special forked branch in the trunk of his car to find a water source when he needed to. He had his own real estate business and worked in it until he was around 92, 93. He was involved in the Methodist church, being the district treasurer for many years. <br /><br />My father worked hard and we never wanted for anything. However, I can't say we were close. He wasn't a particularly affectionate person, not cold, just not cuddly. Because he finished school by the ninth grade, not an uncommon path in his day for boys on the farm, and my mother had a college degree (teaching), I felt like he was always a bit uncomfortable with his children's academics. I know he was proud of us, but I think he felt like he had to defend his own path. I was a real academic achiever, with being valedictorian of my high school class and having a 3.93 in college, and, yet, he said the statement to my sister-in-law, who also didn't go to college, that college degrees didn't mean as much as hard work and getting the job done (words something to that effect). He said it in front of me while I was in college doing well. Hurtful, but I now know where it was coming from. And, my mother was proud enough and delighted enough for the two of them. Education meant more to her than to him because of their different paths. It was my mother who helped me find my love of reading. It was my father who helped me appreciate that not all learning is book learning. Oh, and one more thing, my father loved cheese, just loved it. When we would go to Cincinnati, there was a shop we always stopped in and got cheeses, and he was forever urging me to try a bite of one. So, I guess I have to thank my father for my love of cheese. Hahaha!Kathy Reelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17004247271452356577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-81323492076565565602019-06-16T14:02:59.059-04:002019-06-16T14:02:59.059-04:00Ha ha ha ha! I think we could generate a book: our...Ha ha ha ha! I think we could generate a book: our dads' book of witty insults. Hallie Ephronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04759439029582054503noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-70827845357936688672019-06-16T14:00:29.922-04:002019-06-16T14:00:29.922-04:00He sounds like an artisan. He sounds like an artisan. Hallie Ephronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04759439029582054503noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-31210199088621375662019-06-16T13:51:45.598-04:002019-06-16T13:51:45.598-04:00AN ASIDE: Just found out that my publisher is givi...AN ASIDE: Just found out that my publisher is giving away copies of CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR on Goodreads... Until 7/1. Odds are in your favor! 50 copies available, SO FAR 455 people requesting<br />https://tinyurl.com/y24y4borHallie Ephronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04759439029582054503noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-87549148656266946142019-06-16T13:05:45.065-04:002019-06-16T13:05:45.065-04:00My father was very creative. He would have loved ...My father was very creative. He would have loved to live in the medieval era when men were knights, had swords and created things with their hands. He did not like the computer nor the phone. He created a globe out of leather for blind people so they could locate continents on the global map. When I finally come home after a summer hospital stay (spinal meningitis), I had to learn everything again like learning how to walk again. He put up gym bars in doorways so I could use my muscles again. <br /><br />That was my father. When I was a kid, people said that I looked like my father. I asked why I did not get his yellow hair (my hair was dark red). LOL<br /><br />DianaBibliophilehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07764234701385787238noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-54179231514426870052019-06-16T11:56:21.208-04:002019-06-16T11:56:21.208-04:00My dad was born in 1919 and was the youngest of fo...My dad was born in 1919 and was the youngest of four boys. His dad was a taciturn Swedish emigrant and his mom was a very strict Scotch Presbyterian who criticized and chastised a lot but didn't praise much. Dad's college years were interrupted by WW2. He was in the Army Air Corps and was a meteorologist and master sergeant. He would have loved to be a pilot but had poor eyesight. He was stationed on Galveston Island when he met my mom. After they were an item Mom said he proposed by saying he had calculated they could afford to marry between his earnings and hers. Not exactly a romantic! They married and then he was shipped to the Aleutians. He used his GI bill to finish college; my older brother was born shortly before graduation. They moved to Houston where he went to work for Humble Oil & Refining as an accountant. Mom said he had considered remaining a meteorologist but had decided not to. Dad was generally on the quiet side, compared to my friends' fathers, but he could make us all laugh. In the summertime he came straight home from work and took us kids to the pool almost every day. He moonlighted for years doing the accounting for a local business so there was money for vacations and summer camp. He loved all kinds of music, everything from Bob Wills to Herman's Hermits. I still remember his singing falsetto and doing The Freddy. He had a temper but his went the Scandinavian route: disgusted looks and silence. I remember catching a week or two of the silent treatment for some stunt I pulled. After retiring, Dad and Mom got to do some international travel and would have continued if he hadn't had a stroke in 2000. It left him with aphasia. He couldn't deal too well with that and his deafness so he withdrew from all but family. He died a couple of days before my birthday in 2014. He was a multi-faceted person with a reputation for being strict but fair. And funny. I still remember his seeing a woman with a far out hairdo. His comment? I've seen a better head on a beer.Pat Dhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12732230586783432052noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-65024987495381131952019-06-16T11:33:12.843-04:002019-06-16T11:33:12.843-04:00It is interesting me that so many of our fathers s...It is interesting me that so many of our fathers served in WW2. My father was a first generation German-American, a German professor, and, well, German. He was a brilliant man, well read in several languages, but German was never spoken in our house, not in my hearing. It was a sign of the times. As a naval officer he applied to the UN as an interpreter, German being his first language. So the navy made him a gunnery officer on a ship in the South Pacific, our tax dollars at work.<br /><br />He also was an ordained Lutheran pastor who never had a church. I didn't know this until I was in my teens when I discovered a box of sermons stored in the attic. His parents, poor Kansas dirt farmers, managed to send him away to private school at 12, and then to seminary and university. He had to pay for his masters and PhD on his own though -- during the dirty thirties yet.<br /><br />He's been gone so long that I barely remember him, more than fifty years. He adored my mother and me too although his stern upbringing didn't allow him to tend to a lot of expression of affection. I do think of him often, wondering how he would have enjoyed his grandchildren and their children and how proud he would have been of them. Fintahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17087809450585073206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-10855490591474624602019-06-16T11:30:06.175-04:002019-06-16T11:30:06.175-04:00Thanks for this post, Hallie. I love hearing about...Thanks for this post, Hallie. I love hearing about the great loving, generous, and self-sacrificing dads. It gives me hope. Jenn McKinlayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13589365995413467367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-44722552585312046802019-06-16T11:20:12.209-04:002019-06-16T11:20:12.209-04:00Love hearing everyone's stories. Thinking of m...Love hearing everyone's stories. Thinking of my son-in-law, and what a great dad he is. And that I should tell him so!Deborah Crombiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16988750789088153601noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-83579557706081038942019-06-16T11:13:51.689-04:002019-06-16T11:13:51.689-04:00"Do the opposite"! For those of us with ..."Do the opposite"! For those of us with flawed parental units, it's great advice. Hallie Ephronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04759439029582054503noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-23284444848554558912019-06-16T10:58:10.576-04:002019-06-16T10:58:10.576-04:00 Yes, isn’t it so interesting to see? Such a diffe... Yes, isn’t it so interesting to see? Such a different perspective… Hank Phillippi Ryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07630366214207785339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-90979398297181949372019-06-16T10:55:44.990-04:002019-06-16T10:55:44.990-04:00My Dad was the scapegoat of his family, the younge...My Dad was the scapegoat of his family, the youngest son, he was neglected by both parents. However, he was a lovely gentle father. When asked by someone, how did he parent he replied "I remember what my parents did to me, and do the opposite." A lover of Husky Football, the strong steadying presence in Mom's life, and also like others, one whose excessive drinking robbed us of the real person. He died 28 years ago. In my memory, it could have been yesterday. Happy Father's Day Daddy.Coralee Hickshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06691335135691119400noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-91187653954428901942019-06-16T10:46:15.401-04:002019-06-16T10:46:15.401-04:00You're making me think of my son-in-law Jack, ...You're making me think of my son-in-law Jack, dad to two of the best grandchildren anyone could have. He's a winner in so many ways.Hallie Ephronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04759439029582054503noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-15130141041436159312019-06-16T10:44:45.818-04:002019-06-16T10:44:45.818-04:00That's so great that he got to at least get so...That's so great that he got to at least get some of his thoughts down. Sounds like he had an excellent sense of humor.Hallie Ephronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04759439029582054503noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-47281073643017479592019-06-16T10:42:55.237-04:002019-06-16T10:42:55.237-04:00Oh, Peter - he did set the bar high, didn't he...Oh, Peter - he did set the bar high, didn't he?!Hallie Ephronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04759439029582054503noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-46269467226623088722019-06-16T10:06:27.517-04:002019-06-16T10:06:27.517-04:00I'm appreciative of the memories you've al...I'm appreciative of the memories you've all shared today. Happy Father's Day!<br />Lyda McPhersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05211808700153787911noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-57807602430213595312019-06-16T09:48:41.335-04:002019-06-16T09:48:41.335-04:00Love to all of you. XxxxxLove to all of you. XxxxxHank Phillippi Ryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07630366214207785339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-48283121464981090202019-06-16T09:48:25.207-04:002019-06-16T09:48:25.207-04:00This is so touching—thank you for these moments, H...This is so touching—thank you for these moments, Hallie.<br /> I also love watching my stepson, Paul, with his two kids. Especially when they’re together with Jonathan. It’s so inspirational. Hank Phillippi Ryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07630366214207785339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-32784642269834731012019-06-16T09:38:08.348-04:002019-06-16T09:38:08.348-04:00My dad was typical of his generation: WW2 veteran,...My dad was typical of his generation: WW2 veteran, organic chemist, sailor, a stern father and grandfather. As his Alzheimer's descended, he wrote a few short memoir pieces and planned to write more. Most memorable quote: "Your mother is the gardener in the family, I just do her yard work."Margaret S. Hamiltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07979191318652199350noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-28496412278120386672019-06-16T09:35:00.889-04:002019-06-16T09:35:00.889-04:00Peter C Cosmos -Cambridge, Massachusetts
Father o...Peter C Cosmos -Cambridge, Massachusetts <br />Father of Jeanne K Cosmos, Cambridge, Massachusetts J.K. Cosmoshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00632363897373453216noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-42940793435153644192019-06-16T09:32:22.053-04:002019-06-16T09:32:22.053-04:00My father was my best friend, one person supporter...My father was my best friend, one person supporter & non-judgmental with all of my considerable shenanigans. A young Marine in WWII, he could make all of us toe the line & that was an important life lesson-to be accountable for one’s actions & not to lie and so it goes, those life lessons. He was loving & kind & gentle, but with an amazing good humor. Even in troubled times-stuff w business-he said when his head hit the pillow, that’s it -sleep. He was an Insurance Broker most of his life, talked with everyone. Spoke with the high & low-all the same with respect and love. He helped our community-often. I love him & miss him so much it hurts. I cry with the loss of him & have never gotten over his leaving this life too soon. J.K. Cosmoshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00632363897373453216noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-26708235720671112692019-06-16T08:57:28.900-04:002019-06-16T08:57:28.900-04:00And that brings tears to MY eyes. And that brings tears to MY eyes. Hallie Ephronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04759439029582054503noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-90396547862675053722019-06-16T08:55:52.415-04:002019-06-16T08:55:52.415-04:00What a lovely tribute, Jay - your dad sounds like ...What a lovely tribute, Jay - your dad sounds like a gem. Hallie Ephronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04759439029582054503noreply@blogger.com