Happy Father's Day, Daddy
Jun. 14th, 2003 05:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
susandennisMy Dad was a 1950's Father Knows Best, Leave it to Beaver father. He worked his way up from sales trainee to Vice President of Hanes Underwear and then went on to head up several other textile companies. He spent most of my growing up years on the road. His hobbies were his family, gin rummy and scotch. He was an uninhibited Christian bigot. He had no problem with Blacks, Gays, Women, Jews, or anyone different as long as they knew their place and stayed there.
When he was home he was home. I have wonderful memories of Daddy time. I'm not even in this photo. That's my sister and my brother doing the holdup.
We took a lot of family trips - a lot in cars. He had a beautiful singing voice but could not remember a lyric to save his soul. My singing voice is painful. But, I know all the words. On any family trip there was lots of singing. Showtunes, Baptist hymns, Casey-would-waltz-with-the-strawberry-blond... If we were in the car, I got to ride shotgun so Daddy could read my lips and get the words.
Any career success I have had can be traced right back to stuff he taught me. He was retired for 10 years and never really got the hang of it. He and Mom sold their house in historic Charleston and moved into the retirement place where Mom lives now. He got them all settled in, and three months later had a heart attack. He lived for about a week and he and Mom had about 2 days to say goodbye. It was very like him.
He was also big on punishment. I was not close to Mom or Dad before he died. I hadn't seen them in several years and he knew how much I hated Summer in the South. He died in mid-August 4 years ago and, I suspect, got a huge laugh out of making us all gather there in the heat and humidity.
Happy Father's Day, Daddy
When he was home he was home. I have wonderful memories of Daddy time. I'm not even in this photo. That's my sister and my brother doing the holdup.
We took a lot of family trips - a lot in cars. He had a beautiful singing voice but could not remember a lyric to save his soul. My singing voice is painful. But, I know all the words. On any family trip there was lots of singing. Showtunes, Baptist hymns, Casey-would-waltz-with-the-strawberry-blond... If we were in the car, I got to ride shotgun so Daddy could read my lips and get the words.
Any career success I have had can be traced right back to stuff he taught me. He was retired for 10 years and never really got the hang of it. He and Mom sold their house in historic Charleston and moved into the retirement place where Mom lives now. He got them all settled in, and three months later had a heart attack. He lived for about a week and he and Mom had about 2 days to say goodbye. It was very like him.
He was also big on punishment. I was not close to Mom or Dad before he died. I hadn't seen them in several years and he knew how much I hated Summer in the South. He died in mid-August 4 years ago and, I suspect, got a huge laugh out of making us all gather there in the heat and humidity.
Happy Father's Day, Daddy
