From Joni'..
My best memories of my dad are so many it is hard to choose. When I think of him when we were children, I think of my dad being the dad that took us to the pool to swim, took us to play on the swings, and in the summers brought us back to the states to go on interesting vacations. He took us to "dude-ranches", beaches, the mountains, the Grand Canyon, Disneyland, and the big cities. We spent many summer days in a cabin overlooking the river at Wahilla in Oklahoma. We went river rafting and everything. Believe me, these were not the vacations my mother planned,but she enjoyed them with us. He did the whole junior high experience of driving me and my friends to see out-of-town ballgames with us all piled in the station wagon.
I remember his love of camping and when we first moved here, joining the Razorback Camping Club. When we moved back to the States, we had a brand new station wagon and pop-up tent camper waiting for us in Miami that he ordered BY MAIL!!! Little by little my mom had her say, and he progressed to the longer travel trailer and eventually to his "mini-home." We went everywhere in that motorhome, including one trip to the Orange Bowl in Miami to watch the Razorbacks beat Oklahoma (his alma mater), soundly! Since my dad retired so early at 58, we got to experience the fun part of his retirement and traveling with him. Other kids"dads were at work".ours was at home when we left and when we got home.
I loved that when I went to the university here, my dad took classes at the same time and we would see each other in the halls in the College of Business building. We would hug in the hallways. I'm sure people wondered! He was auditing finance and investment classes for FUN! Can you imagine???
One of the best things about him personally that I try to follow with my own daughters was his philosophy of "don't cry over spilled milk." In other words, when one of us messed up, made a mistake, did something wrong".he never dwelled on it. It was already done. Where do we go from here,how do we not make the same mistake again? That was his "speech" to us.
The best words I could use to describe him would be "loving and supportive." He was always there for me and took in Chuck and loved and treated him like a son and continued his same style of love and support with each of my girls. When my first daughter, Jamie was born, he was 72. He said, "I guess 72 is old enough to be a grandfather!" He was always young at heart. He always refered to other people his age as "those old fogies." He always was young to me. If you had troubles?.there was always "Dadda." I think we all thought he could always fix anything that was wrong and that he always had all the answers.
I loved listening to him talk about his faith. His grandfather was a Methodist minister. His focus was on the resurrection and everlasting life. His travels took him to so many places that he had read about in the Bible, seeing other cultures and their religions. He saw first-hand the differences between Christian beliefs and those of other cultures. I have a set of rosary beads he gave me that were made from olives pits from trees in the Garden of Gethsemane. He said, "Can you imagine" these olive pits came from trees that are in the garden right where Jesus walked".?
I loved my dad more than anything," he was always there for me with open arms and full of love and support".he was my example, my mentor...a perfect example of a Christian, a father, and a husband".someone to live up to".
Joni
