Happy Father’s Day Daddy…i Love You & Miss You Very Much

So I woke up this morning with a million things to do, none of which kept me from thinking of my dad, who isn’t here this first father’s day without him.

My father was a wonderful man. He was drafted into the army during WWII in 1942 where he served in Sicily, Germany and France. When the war ended he married my mom and went on to work for the Pennsylvania Railroad.  He then worked for PICCO, which was a resin company.

My father worked very hard, missing only 4 days of work his entire life.  Twice because he was very sick, once because while working acid accidentally splashed on him and once while at work he went to light the boilers, not realizing that they had been lit but went out and that the pilots were still on. When he got the flame close to the pilots, all the gas that had been accumulating lit on fire and blew back in his face. The skin on my father’s face was burned black and peeling off. Had he not had on safety glasses my father would have been blinded.

My mother passed away on May 16, 1983, and that was the first time I ever saw my father cry. He spent 26 years without her and I know there wasn’t a day that went by that he didn’t think about her and miss her dearly.

My father loved to hunt and fish and he was a huge Steelers fan.  Was bitter sweet this past February when the Steelers went to the Super bowl and won. Wishing I could have talked to him about the game but knowing in my heart that he was probably watching from the best seats in the house.

He would never go to the doctors and would always say, “They are going to have to carry me out of here!”.  See, my father was 88 when he unexpectedly passed away on Dec. 30, 2008. He lived with my brother in the house that he had shared with my mom. My brother talked to him about 4:30 that afternoon, then went upstairs and was on the computer for a while. About 2 hours later he came down to feed the cats and noticed my father in the chair. The paramedics said they thought he had been gone for a couple hours, which means he passed away not long after talking to my brother.  My father was in his favorite chair. He had his hat on, his glasses on and had a pen in his hand, waiting for the local news to announce the afternoon lottery number.  The fact that he still had a grip on the pen indicated my father was in no pain when he died, for had he been in pain, he would have dropped the pen, tried to stand up and fell and most likely would have had his eyes open. My father looked like he was asleep.