Happy Father's Day

We lost my beloved dad in late February of 1994. 1994 was not a good year for our family. Not only did we lose my dad, but we lost a very special aunt, my Aunt Coney in July (she lived in St. Louis). We also lost another special member of our family, my sister-in-law, Barbara, who passed away in October.

The kids were pretty young when my dad died - Brandon was 4 and the twins were 2. It's sad because they don't have any memories of him. I remember him getting down on the floor and playing with them when they were babies. He also liked imitating Louie Armstrong, so it wasn't unusual for him to break out singing "Hello Dolly" or "When the Saints Go Marching In". In fact, I have a little bit of him singing on video. Dad worked hard to put food on the table for his family. My mom stayed at home raising the five of us, and dad worked first at 7-Up and then at Coors for many years before opening his own liquor store. I know all of us kids have our own special memories of him. There are two things that I remember the most - going fishing with him at Cheney Lake and going to the Wichita Aero's baseball games. The Aero's played in the early 70's, while dad was still working for Coors. They had 4 season tickets that none of the other employees ever wanted to use, so dad and I, and sometimes one of my other sisters or my brother, would go to the ballgame! We had a lot of fun together.

Here are some old pictures I dug up. You can probably click on the picture and see it larger.

Uncle Louie, Aunt Coney, Dad and Mom, Uncle Gerald and Aunt Norma, with dad's parents John and Anna (circa 1976)

Crooked picture (couldn't get the scanner to straighten it for some reason): My dad and mom, Uncle Louie and Aunt Coney, and Uncle Gerald and Aunt Norma, circa 1953.